Uganda will send soldiers to Moscow to defend Putin if need be - President's son

The son of Ugandan leader Yoweri Museveni, Muhoozi Kainerugaba, said he would send Ugandan troops to defend Moscow in case of an "imperialist" threat.

"Call me +Putinist+ if you want, we Uganda should send soldiers to defend Moscow if ever it was threatened by imperialists," he wrote on Twitter.

"The West is wasting its time with useless pro-Ukrainian propaganda," added the president's son, a staunch supporter of Vladimir Putin.

He also announced on Thursday the creation of a television and radio channel bearing his brand, "MK."

Kainerugaba, 48, who is used to making controversial statements on Twitter, announced this month his candidacy for the 2026 presidential election.

On October 18, 2022, Yoweri Museveni had declared that his only son -- he also has three daughters -- would no longer tweet about the country's affairs, after a series of polemical tweets in early October in which he had notably threatened to invade Kenya.

Uganda has abstained from UN votes on the Ukrainian conflict, including one in February on the first anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which called on Moscow to withdraw its troops from the country.

In July, during a tour of Africa by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Kainerugaba said, referring to Russia, "How can we be against someone who has never hurt us?

Russia has traditionally had strong ties to Africa because of its support for independence movements on the continent that were then struggling with colonial powers.

Observers have long considered Muhoozi Kainerugaba to be a likely successor to his father Yoweri Museveni, 78.