Most African countries are well-aware of the meaning of Russia's actions in the Ukrainian conflict, Oleg Ozerov, the Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Head of the secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum has stated.
"Most of them did not need to explain what the meaning of Russia's actions in Ukraine is," the diplomat has written in his article that has been published on Friday, the Russian text of which was distributed by the Russian Embassy in Washington. "In Africa, it is well understood that this former Soviet republic has become the arena not of a banal war between neighbors, but of a confrontation between the new and old worlds, different concepts of the future."
Ozerov noted that the attitude of the countries of the continent towards Russia was demonstrated by the Russia–Africa International Parliamentary Conference, attended by 40 African nations and held at the end of March.
"Detractors may object that not all African countries were represented at the conference," he continued. Perhaps this is true, although representatives of 40 of the 54 countries of the continent took part in it, that is, a clear majority. Moreover, the people's deputies arrived under unprecedented pressure, threats and blackmail from the "collective West".
Six African leaders, including the president of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, will travel to Moscow and Kiev as early as June to promote negotiations aimed to put an end to the 15-month conflict between the two sides, according to South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation.