MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/. African countries understand the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis and the West’s role in it, a high-ranking Russian foreign ministry official said.
"Africa is well aware of the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis and the role of the West in fuelling it. Many countries of the continent take an independent and principled position of non-interference in conflicts outside their region, including in regards to the Special Military Operation," Tatiana Dovgalenko, director of the ministry’s department of partnership with Africa, said in an interview with the New Eastern Outlook online media outlet.
"Non-alignment with sanctions against Russia is a clear demonstration of the firm and confident position of our African partners, who have not succumbed to pressure from the West, and their choice in favor of constructive relations with Russia," she stressed.
According to the Russian diplomat, the capital of friendship and cooperation, as well as traditions of trust and mutual support between Russia and African countries "also played a positive role." She noted that African nations "remember clearly the weighty and selfless contribution of the USSR to the struggle of the African peoples for freedom and independence, and Moscow’s assistance in strengthening sovereignty, defense capabilities and the development of the continent’s young states’ economies." "With their burdensome colonial past, Africans are extremely sensitive to issues of external diktat and, unlike Europeans, do not want to betray their own history in favor of other people’s immediate interests," she pointed out.
She recalled that many African countries have lived through periods of sanctions and some are now living under this pressure. "The continent knows first-hand what illegitimate unilateral restrictive measures are and understands their selectivity, unreasonableness and injustice," Dovgalenko added.