Tanzania’s president visits Russia to deepen trade and diplomatic ties

Samia Suluhu Hassan arrived in Moscow on a three-day state visit that put trade and diplomacy at the center of her meeting with Vladimir Putin. It was the first visit by a Tanzanian head of state to Moscow since Julius Nyerere went there in October 1969, a gap that gives the trip unusual political weight as Russia seeks to deepen ties with Africa while cut off from much of the West.

Hassan traveled with a business delegation aimed at turning the visit into signed deals on trade, tourism and minerals. Tanzania and Russia already do about $307 million in annual trade, and Russian officials have put the figure at about $307.5 million. A new Russia-Tanzania Business Council, created in January 2026, is meant to push that higher. Air Tanzania has said it could begin flights between Dar es Salaam and Moscow by the end of 2026, a move that would give the relationship a practical commercial link as well as a diplomatic one.

The economic pitch is broader than aviation. Russian companies are already involved in strategic minerals projects in Tanzania, including lithium, and a Tanzanian researcher cited in the reporting said Russia accounts for about $400 million in investments across 44 projects in the country, supporting nearly 3,000 jobs. Russian mission statements have linked the visit to Tanzania’s Vision 2050 development agenda and to cooperation in trade, energy, mining, infrastructure and technology. Hassan was also expected to attend the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, underscoring how the trip was being folded into Russia’s wider investment outreach.

The timing also reflects strain in Tanzania’s ties with Western governments after Hassan’s disputed 2025 reelection. A government-appointed commission of inquiry into the October unrest said 518 people were killed and thousands more injured, and the United States said it was reviewing relations with Tanzania after the violence. That has made the Moscow trip more than a ceremonial stop: it offers Hassan a chance to signal that Tanzania still has options beyond Western capitals.

There is also a longer historical arc behind the visit. The Soviet Union was among the first countries to recognize Tanganyika’s independence on 9 December 1961, and diplomatic relations with Moscow were established three days later. More than six decades later, the trip suggests a partial reset in Tanzania’s external posture, with Moscow looking for proof that it still matters in Africa and Dar es Salaam looking for leverage, investment and diplomatic room to maneuver.