Finland's Plan to Cut Help for Africa 'Instrument of Political Pressure': Russian Foreign Ministry

CC BY-SA 4.0 / Santeri Viinamäki / Flag of Finland
Flag of Finland - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 30.06.2023
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Following its victory in the April legislative elections, Finland's new coalition government, made up of the National Coalition Party and the True Finns, intends to reduce its aid to poor nations by around one billion euros.
Finland's intention to cut aidto "African nations supporting Russia" can be characterized as "shameless use by the West of assistance programs for developing countries as an instrument of political pressure on states seeking to pursue an independent policy," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has argued.

"This decision cannot be characterized other than as the shameless use by the West of assistance programs for developing countries as an instrument of political pressure on states seeking to pursue an independent policy. This is further confirmation that Finland, against the background of joining NATO, has turned into a thoughtless repeater of the policy of its new North Atlantic masters, having completely lost its independence," the diplomat stated.

According to Zakharova, the decision manifests the West's hypocrisy in the matter of helping nations in need.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa (right) before meeting with leaders of a number of African states who arrived in St. Petersburg to hold talks on possible ways to resolve the situation around Ukraine, June 17, 2023 - Sputnik Africa, 1920, 20.06.2023
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"All of this also illustrates the cynicism of Western politicians, whose hypocritical statements about caring for people in developing countries turn out to be a desire to throw a colonialist noose, to deprive them of the right to pursue an independent sovereign policy. We are confident that our partners will not succumb to such blackmail," she stated.

Earlier, Russian State Duma Deputy Speaker Alexander Babakov statedthat the recently announced intention of the new Finnish government to reduce aid to developing nations is a "vivid example of the worst colonial policy in the spirit of European countries."

"It is very regrettable that Finland follows the bad example of its older European brothers from the century before last, when they, under the propaganda sauce of the 'civilizational mission,' were simply engaged in the division of the natural resources of the African continent, and the people inhabiting it were turned into slaves," Babakov stated.

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