Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called for the full restoration of freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. According to the BBC Monitoring report, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency quoted Mr Lavrov as making the remarks on Friday during a joint press conference with Azerbaijan’s Foreign Minister Jeyhun Bayramov in Moscow. “Of course, in our contacts with all parties involved, we are calling for an immediate ceasefire. We also want the situation to return to the point where the Strait of Hormuz was fully open and maritime traffic was operating without any difficulties or restrictions,” Lavrov said. The Russian foreign minister also warned of potential risks to the global economy, saying that the Houthi movement had announced it could block the Bab al-Mandab Strait if attacks against Iran continued. The Bab al-Mandab Strait is one of the world’s key maritime routes, playing a significant role in global trade and energy shipments between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
