MOSCOW, July 25. /TASS/. The United States, France and other Western countries exerted unprecedented pressure on African countries ahead of the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg to prevent them from taking part, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Tuesday.

"Naturally, we are well aware of the fact that almost all African countries faced unprecedented pressure from the United States, with French embassies as well as other Western diplomatic missions <…> locally trying to make a contribution to these efforts in order to block African nations from participating in this summit," he said.

"The policy being pursued by the United States, France and other countries should be condemned and it is worth being condemned. In fact, they deny African countries the sovereign right to choose partners both for expanding cooperation and interaction across various domains and for discussing pressing issues," the Russian presidential spokesman added.

According to Peskov, Russia should join forces with Africans to continue dialogue on the grain deal and Russia’s efforts to support global markets. "Certainly, all this will be discussed (at the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg - TASS)," he said.

The second Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum is slated for July 27-28 in St. Petersburg. The first such event was held in Sochi on October 22-24, 2019 under the slogan "For peace, security and development.".