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Morocco–Russia relations (Arabic: علاقات مغربية روسية, Russian: Российско-марокканские отношения) is the bilateral relationship between Russia and Morocco.
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Early relations
Bilateral relations between Russia and Morocco have traditionally been very good since the 18th century. Then the mutual relations began with the exchange of goods between the empires of Sultan Mohammed Ben Abdallah and Empress Catherine II.
1910s
In the late Tsarist years, Russia supported the French colonial positions on Morocco.
1920s
In the 1920s and the 1930s, the Soviet Union did not sign the Tangier Protocol.
Cold War
During the Cold War, Morocco was one of the Soviet Union's most important trading partners in Africa.
In the early 1960s, Soviet-Moroccan relations were developing very good. During the 1964 Moscow protest, approximately 50 Moroccan students broke into the embassy of Morocco in the Soviet Union in Moscow and staged an all‐day sit-in protesting against death sentences handed down by a Moroccan court in Rabat.
In 1978, the Soviet Union invested heavily in the Mining industry of Morocco.
In the Western Sahara War, the Soviet Union supported the POLISARIO and Algeria. In this context, King Hassan II of Morocco said in 1980 that Morocco and the Soviet Union are "at war".
Current relations
Russia has an embassy in Rabat, and a consular office in Casablanca. Morocco is represented in Russia by its embassy to Moscow.
In the 2000s, the bilateral trade relations widened significantly, especially in the mining and agriculture sector.
The then and current President Vladimir Putin had paid a visit to Morocco in September 2006 in order to boost economic and military ties between Russia and Morocco. Morocco-Russian relations are still in constant development, while trade between the two countries reached over two billion dollars in 2011. In March 2016, King Mohammed VI of Morocco visited Russia and met with President Putin. Both sides signed an agreement on mutual protection of secret information.
According to Moroccan media, Russia supports the Moroccan position in the Western Sahara conflict.
After a significant decline in tourism from Europe, the Ministry of Tourism of Morocco is planning to attract more travelers from Russia.