Russian Foreign Minister: Sanctions won't stop Russia from supplying energy to Africa
The Russian Federation will continue to fulfill its obligations to supply food, fertilizer and energy to African countries despite Western sanctions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.
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| Press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation. |
"It is important to make it clear to all our African friends that Russia will continue to faithfully fulfill its commitments under international contracts on the export of food, fertilizers, energy transportation and other extremely important goods to Africa. All measures to this end are being taken by the Russian side," Lavrov wrote in an article for African media.
He stressed that Moscow is well aware of the importance of providing products for the population to many countries around the world, including food.
“I would like to stress that the Western and Ukrainian propaganda that Russia is “exporting famine” is completely unfounded. In fact, such claims reflect their attempts to continue shifting the blame “from the sick to the healthy,” Lavrov added.
He explained that since the "covid crisis", the West itself, through its monetary mechanism, has "drained" the flow of goods and food towards itself, exacerbating the situation in developing countries that depend on imported food. It was from then that the difficult situation began to appear on the world food market.
"The Western sanctions imposed on Russia in recent months have further aggravated negative trends," Lavrov said.
"Developing comprehensive partnership with African countries has always been one of the key priorities of Russia's foreign policy. We are ready to further strengthen these relations - in line with the strategic decisions adopted at the first Russia-Africa summit held in late October 2019 in Sochi," Lavrov wrote.
Besides, he emphasized that Russia “does not impose anything on anyone, does not “preach” to others.”
"We fully respect the sovereignty of African countries, their inalienable right to determine their own development path. We have always adhered to the principle that "African problems must be solved by Africans". This approach to the development of relations between other countries is fundamentally based on the "leadership-subordination" logic imposed by the "mother countries" in a way that reproduces the outdated colonial model", - the Minister added.
