France has revoked the citizenship of publicist Stellio Gilles Robert Capo Kichi, known under the pseudonym Kemi Seba, for criticizing the country's policies in Africa, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in her Telegram channel.
"For what sins has Paris suddenly decided to deprive a well-known public figure of citizenship? You won't believe it - for criticizing France's policy in Africa. And this despite the fact that even [French President Emmanuel] Macron loyalists can hardly call the Elysee Palace's foreign policy in Africa worthy of flattering epithets," Maria Zakharova revealed.
She also noted that the French publication Le Figaro had called the Pan-Africanist publicist, who advocates for African nations to assert their sovereignty and resist economic exploitation, a foreign agent. "Nothing but the 'hand of the Kremlin' guided the pen of the journalist who wrote this," Zakharova quoted the publication as saying.
"Neither the traditional ideas of democracy and freedom of speech in French philosophy nor modern interpretations of tolerance and the fascination with human rights have stopped Paris from what Kemi Seba himself called 'negrophobic neocolonialism'," the diplomat added.