ST. PETERSBURG, July 25. /TASS/. African nations are not fond of the West because of its hypocritical policies which aim to plunder African countries, not because of Russia’s influence, Oleg Ozerov, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s ambassador-at-large and head of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, said on Tuesday.

"You (Western countries - TASS) have lost ground in Africa because of your diktat, your double standards and your outright and blatant robbery of these countries. As a result, they dislike you for that and not because of what Russia says," the diplomat noted at a Russian-African conference hosted by the international Valdai Discussion Club.

According to him, Russia "has never been at war" with the West in Africa "and has no intention to do so." "There are a lot of educated people in Africa nowadays and it’s getting harder to pull the same old tricks on them. This is why they (Western countries - TASS) are using these ploys, claiming that Russia has taken its propaganda to Africa and the West is fighting against it," Ozerov pointed out.

That said, in his words, Russia’s priority is to "work normally to restore deep and diverse relations with the African continent," particularly in the fields of science, culture, education and information exchanges.

The second Russia-Africa Summit and Economic Forum are scheduled to be held in the Russian city of St. Petersburg on July 27-28. The first event, themed "For Peace, Security and Development," took place in Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi in October 2019.