MOSCOW, November 25. /TASS/. The support by some African countries for anti-Russian resolutions at the United Nations should not affect their dialogue with Moscow, Ambassador at Large, Head of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum Secretariat Oleg Ozerov told TASS on Friday.
"It would be unfair to say that African voting at the UN would somehow affect our interaction with them further down the road. We are ready to continue our cooperation in all spheres," he assured in an interview.
According to Ozerov, Russia understands that some African countries at the UN General Assembly support anti-Russian resolutions on Ukraine. "As for those who voted for, we are aware that the West has been resorting to overt blackmail-a kind of `democracy at gunpoint’: lots of countries, not only in Africa, gave in to the intense pressure and, unfortunately, had to voice their support for the initiative the West has been promoting at the UN," he said.
However, a closer look at the voting figures on the UNGA’s draft anti-Russian resolutions gives a less downbeat view of the situation, Ozerov emphasized. He highlighted the fact that more than half of the countries who abstained from voting on the first three documents dealing with the 'aggression’ against Ukraine, the humanitarian consequences of that ‘aggression’ and the country’s territorial integrity were from Africa. "And the voting on the recent resolution on reparations for Ukraine revealed an even better picture - just 15 out of 54 African countries voted in favor of that resolution, while 27 abstained, seven did not take part and five voted against it," the Russian diplomat concluded.