MOSCOW, February 2. /TASS/. France is supporting terrorists active on the African continent in a last-ditch effort to keep the neo-colonial model alive, a clear sign of the "political bankruptcy" of French President Emmanuel Macron, Alexander Ivanov, director of the Officers Union for International Security, told TASS.
Earlier, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) warned that Paris was plotting neo-colonial-style coups on the African continent in a move of political revanchism. The agency pointed out that France had started to provide direct support to terrorists of all sorts.
"Supporting terrorists is a most cynical and dangerous path. By exhausting the legitimate armies of the Sahel nations and hindering their cooperation with other countries, including Russia, Paris is objectively creating a vacuum of power. It’s terrorist groups that will fill the vacuum. However, we can see increasing evidence that this is not just an objective process. Paris sees these radicals as its last tool of influence, a scarecrow it can use to blackmail the world, and a force that will destroy countries daring to get out of the former metropolis’ control. In this pattern of support for certain separatist and radical movements, we see the ultimate moral and political bankruptcy of President Macron’s policy," Ivanov emphasized.
According to him, Paris did not abandon its colonial ambition after withdrawing from Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso under the pressure of those countries’ people and their choice of sovereignty. Instead of maintaining honest dialogue, Paris opted for the tactics of controlled chaos by creating humanitarian and economic crises, fueling interethnic strife, carrying out espionage, and putting pressure on national governments. "There will be no stability in the region as long as France is present there," the expert stressed.
He compared France’s activities on the African continent to those "of a cornered player." The Elysee Palace, in Ivanov’s words, is rushing about in search of new levers of pressure, and this feverish behavior clearly indicates that neo-colonial policies are on their last legs.
"Unlike France, Russia offers honest cooperation to African countries, which includes the training of national armies for the fight against actual terrorism, assistance in efforts to strengthen those countries’ statehood, and mutually beneficial economic projects. We neither take their resources away nor impose our political models on them nor finance extremists. Our mission is security and sovereignty. With France on the path of destruction, we will stand by those who are building their independent future," Ivanov concluded.