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Russia helps Africa no strings attached, unlike West — diplomat

Oleg Ozerov noted that the West’s arrogance, its use of the language of dictation and patronage "find no understanding with the Africans"

MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. Russia wants nothing from African countries in exchange for its assistance, unlike the West, which can not be trusted to keep its promises, a high-ranking Russian foreign ministry official said at a session of the Valdai Discussion Club.

"All the promises that were given by our president [Vladimir Putin] at the second Russia-Africa summit have been completely fulfilled. This is in stark contrast to the West, which makes lots of promises, but doesn’t deliver on them. If you have a look at the documents of the Africa-EU and Africa-US summits, you will be astonished at the crazy hundreds of billions promised to the Africans. None of this has been fulfilled, not even the slightest bit, or if it was, all the dividends went to American companies," said Oleg Ozerov, the ministry’s ambassador at large and chief of the secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum.

He noted that the West’s arrogance, its use of the language of dictation and patronage "find no understanding with the Africans." "What we have done for the countries in dire straits was accepted with gratitude by African nations," he added.