WASHINGTON, August 4. /TASS/. Due to its desire to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, including in the economic domain, the United States has been trying to belittle the importance of the Russia-Africa summit, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said on Friday.

"The hatred towards everything Russian and insatiable desire to inflict a strategic defeat on us, including on the economic front, literally dazzled US officials," the ambassador said in a statement, released on the Russian embassy’s Telegram channel.

"It is this circumstance that explains the US administration’s attempts, at first, to disrupt the second Russia-Africa summit, which ended with enormous success in St. Petersburg and now to underestimate the significance of this event," Antonov continued. "Washington is still in a little shock because of the fact that our President Vladimir Putin stated Russian Federation’s readiness to provide, free of charge, 25-50 thousand tons of grain to a number of African countries in the coming months."

The diplomat added that Moscow fully respects and supports the sovereignty of its partners, and remains ready to strengthen comprehensive cooperation in the areas of food security, energy, education, and trade.

"We will provide assistance to transform Africa into an authentic and influential center of world development. Such an approach simply does not fit into the logic of the neo-colonial practices of the West, which is unable to build mutually beneficial and equal relations with the Continent," Antonov said.