The former Ambassador of Sri Lanka in Russia,Udayanga Weeratunga, says that Education Minister Susil Premajayantha, who went to Russia to deliver a letter from the President to President Putin of Russia, did not even get an appointment to meet with the President.
The former ambassador to Russia also says that he thinks that the letter given by President Ranil Wickremesinghe to the Russian President may have been kept in the hotel where the minister was staying.
In joining a discussion with Chamuditha Samarawickrama’s Truth with Chamuditha YouTube channel, the former ambassador further mentioned that although the delegation to Russia stated that Sri Lanka received fuel import concessions from the Russian government, as far as he knows, the Russian government has not agreed to provide any such concession or loan.
He disclosed that the efforts made by the Sri Lankan delegation to purchase fuel under a credit line failed and that the group that went on this trip had spent 3 million rupees each on air tickets and that 4,000 dollars had been spent on other expenses.
He mentioned here that Russia is not ready to supply petroleum products on a credit line even though the ex-ambassador spent so much money. The Russian authorities have informed him that they will supply these products in a normal transaction.
Udayanga Weeratunga alleged that during this visit, Susil Premajayantha, as the Minister of Education, could have signed an agreement for the exchange of university students that had been agreed with the Russian government, but he was not interested in that. All in all, he has made an unnecessary visit to Russia by spending much-needed foreign exchange.
