The United States and its European allies blackmail African leaders to achieve the West's neo-colonial goals, the head of Russia's Armed Forces General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, said.
The escalation of internal armed conflicts and the change of power in a number of African countries are provoked by Washington's sanctions policy against Russia, Gerasimov added.
"Washington's sanctions policy against Russia has provoked a food crisis on the African continent, which increases social tensions and public dissatisfaction with the ruling regimes. This led to an escalation of internal armed conflicts and a change of power in a number of countries," he explained at a briefing for foreign military attaches on the results of the activities of the Russian Defense Ministry in 2023.
According to him, the activities of terrorist and extremist organizations, primarily linked to the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group* and Al-Qaeda*, also have a destructive impact on the situation.
He described the situation in Africa as difficult.
"The main negative impact on its development is caused by political instability and long-standing internal conflicts in the countries of North Africa and the Sahara-Sahel region," Gerasimov said.
In August, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the West is responsible for fomenting old and new conflicts in various parts of the world, citing the example of terrorist activities in Mali and the Central African Republic (CAR) following the US aggression in Libya.
He explained that the US and NATO aggression in Libya destabilized the North African country and created a security vacuum that allowed terrorist groups to spread throughout the region.
*terrorist organizations banned in Russia and many other countries around the world