Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto has called on the European Union to take active action in order not to leave Africa under the influence of Russia and China.
"The stakes in the game are high. Europe cannot only worry about an increase in the number of landings [migrants], it must think about the fate of the continent, where 2.5 billion people will live in 15-20 years. If it does not act, it will leave Africa under the influence of Russia and China, who want to exploit it in the same way as European colonialists did a century ago," he said in an interview published on Monday by an Italian media outlet.
According to Crosetto, the lack of real assistance to African countries, particularly Tunisia, puts them in the hands of those forces that would like to use them "to plunge the West into crisis in a few years."
"Either Europe will help Tunisia and Africa in development, or it will have no future," he stressed.
The head of the Defense Ministry also said that Russia could allegedly "indirectly" use the acute migration problem against Europe.
Crosetto has also recalled NATO's strategic priorities.
"In Africa, the main concern is related to the destabilization of the Sahel through terrorism and the penetration of foreign forces into the power institutions of these countries. Illegal migration controlled by criminal organizations is a secondary derivative, an alarming signal, the potential seriousness of which we understand, since we are the closest country," he said.
Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that former metropolises should know their place and understand that the world has changed. According to him, the United States and European countries, demanding that African countries not cooperate with Russia, seek to restore Africa's colonial dependence.
He added that the United States and its allies are trying to disrupt the second Russia–Africa Summit, which is scheduled for the end of July in St. Petersburg, discourage African partners from participating in the forum.
A number of top African officials, commenting on the calls of the West to condemn the Russian Federation, previously stated that no one has the right to dictate with whom to have relations.