Ugandan President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has commended military cooperation between Uganda and Russia, expressing gratitude for Moscow’s support to the country’s armed forces.
Museveni made the remarks on October 9, 2026, during a meeting with Russia’s Chargé d’Affaires ad interim in Uganda, Sergey V. Lobanov, and Major General S.I. Marchuk, the senior representative of the group of Russian military specialists in the country.
The meeting took place as Uganda marked its Independence Day, with discussions highlighting defence cooperation between Kampala and Moscow.
According to the information released about the meeting, Museveni gave a positive assessment of the bilateral military relationship and thanked the Russian side for its assistance to the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF).
The engagement highlights the continued role of defence and military-technical cooperation in relations between Uganda and Russia, which have maintained diplomatic ties since the Soviet era.
The cooperation has included military infrastructure development, equipment donations, personnel training and technical support.
In October 2025, Uganda announced that Russia had donated military and engineering equipment valued at approximately $53 million to the UPDF, including trench-digging machinery, boats and workshops. The assistance was part of wider efforts to improve Uganda’s defence capabilities.
In April 2025, the UPDF also received topographic mapping equipment valued at $3 million from Russia’s Ministry of Defence. The equipment was intended to support terrain mapping for military planning, as well as applications in disaster response and infrastructure development.