Ukraine is working to reduce Moscow's influence on African countries, - special representative Subkh
Ukraine calls on African countries to avoid participation in the Russia-Africa summit and cooperation with the Russians in general.
The special representative of Ukraine in the Middle East and Africa Maksym Subkh, recently appointed by Volodymyr Zelensky, stated this in a comment on BBC News Ukraine, Censor.NET informs.
"We are aware of Russia's intentions to hold the second Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg. We constantly call on our international partners, including those in Africa, to refrain from participating in events held by the aggressor state, so the summit will not be an exception ", he said.
Today, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov begins his tour of African countries to convince them to support the Russians.
He will visit Egypt, Ethiopia, where the headquarters of the African Union is located, Uganda and the Republic of Congo.
In addition, the opening of an English-language office of the Russian propaganda channel RT in South Africa is expected soon in order to popularize Russia.
According to Subh, Ukraine will explain the colonial nature of modern Russia's policy to African states.
It is difficult to change the attitude of African countries that have been friends with Moscow for ten years, but there are enough arguments, he notes.
Subkh also spoke about the tasks Zelensky set for work with Africa:
- Convince to support Ukrainian initiatives regarding the unblocking of Ukrainian ports.
- Conduct dialogue with countries that do not have Ukrainian embassies, carry out "shuttle diplomacy".
- To organize visits of heads of African countries, international and regional organizations.
- Convince countries to vote for resolutions condemning Russia's aggression in international organizations.
- Prevent Russia from implementing anti-Ukrainian plans "at the expense of blackmail, misleading and destabilizing the domestic political situation in the countries of Africa and the Middle East."
- Expand the president's contacts with African leaders, organize a tour of the head of the Foreign Ministry to the countries of Sub-Saharan Africa, prepare a Ukraine-Africa conference.
- To inform the countries of the region about the consequences of Russia's aggression.
- Ukraine will also invite some countries to take part in projects for the reconstruction of Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba's tour of sub-Saharan Africa is planned for autumn.
