MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. Western countries threatened African nations with denial of International Monetary Fund (IMF) support if they cooperate with Russia, the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, told reporters on the sidelines of the second Russia-Africa summit on Thursday.

"The West told a number of countries that if they refuse to take an aggressive, pro-Western stance towards Russia, they should not count on assistance from the International Monetary Fund or the World Bank," she said. "As you all know, the United States dominates this structures."

In her words, the West exerted pressure on a number of political figures in African countries.

"They intimidated [their] families and threatened [them] with blackmail, threatened to impose sanctions and freeze assets and businesses," she said. "Their imagination in that regard is rich, and they have various pressure tools. But, at some point, we should find courage to tell them: ‘We’ve had enough.’".