MOSCOW, September 12. /TASS/: The political instability in some African countries is a consequence of France and Great Britain losing their foothold there, Russian Ambassador at Large and chief of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum Secretariat Oleg Ozerov told TASS.
Commenting on Western media allegations that instability in African countries is linked with the recent Russia-Africa summit, he noted, "I think it is predominantly our Western partners who attribute this to us."
"The current turbulence stems from the difficult political and economic situation in these countries. And, to a larger extent, it is a consequence of the waning authority of former colonial metropolis countries, such as France, the United Kingdom and others, which had very strong positions for a long time. Now, they are rapidly losing these positions," he said.
"And they are losing their positions not because Russia hosted the summit, but because we are witnessing a redistribution of power, authority, and potential between the Western world and what the West calls the Global South," he said, adding that the notion of the Global South includes African and Asian countries, along with Latin American states.
According to Ozerov, due to the decline in the influence of Western metropolises, "many regimes, which once aligned themselves with the old colonial powers, are losing the support of their own people." "That is why these processes should be thoroughly analyzed to see what is behind them. The real reasons and they cannot be reduced to Russia’s interference," he stressed, adding that Moscow has vowed that it doesn’t meddle in what is going on in African countries.
"Another thing is that if we are asked to help, why shouldn’t we help? These are two different topics the West tends to confuse. We, on the contrary, discriminate between them. There are questions linked with how the change of power is taking place in these countries - naturally, Russia stands for a democratic way, elections and so on - but we understand the underlying causes that lead to this, as you said, turmoil," the Russian diplomat emphasized.
