Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Monday said his country is ready to offer help to African countries without any political conditions unlike what the ‘exploitative West’ does by intimidating African countries to exploit their resources, reported Reuters.
“We see how arrays of Western countries are resorting to pressure, intimidation and blackmail of sovereign African governments,” Putin said in an interview with the TASS news agency.
While, the Russian president did not specifically name the countries, he said he was referring to countries that used to be colonial powers on the continent.
“They are using such methods to try to return lost influence and dominance in their former colonies in a new guise and rushing to pump out maximum profits and to exploit the continent,” Putin said.
He ensured Russia was ready to offer help without political or other conditions”and to embrace the principle of African solutions for African problems. He added that Moscow’s relations with Africa are improving, pointing to military technical cooperation agreements that his government currently has with over 30 African countries to it supplies arms to.
The remark comes a few days before Russia hosts a summit with African leaders. The Russia-Africa summit is slated for Oct. 23-24 in the Russian city of Sochi. The first Russia-Africa summit is part of Moscow’s ambitious push for influence and business in Africa. Around 47 African leaders are expected to converge on the Black Sea city of Sochi for the event. The leaders are likely to discuss a wide range of issues on the international agenda and compare views on pressing issues of vital interest to Russia and Africa.
The summit would be preceded by an economic forum, called the Russia-Africa Economic Forum, which will be attended by the participating African leaders and representatives of Russian, African and international commercial companies.
