African countries have a clear understanding of the underlying causes of the Ukraine crisis and the West’s role in fueling it, according to Tatyana Dovgalenko, head of the Africa Partnership Department at Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her comments were made in an interview with the online outlet New Eastern Outlook and published on the ministry's official website.
“Africa understands well the root causes of the Ukraine crisis and the role the West has played in provoking it. Many nations across the continent maintain an independent and principled stance of non-interference in conflicts beyond their region, including Russia’s special military operation,” she said.
“African partners’ refusal to join sanctions against Russia is a clear demonstration of their firm, sovereign positions and their resistance to Western pressure. It also reflects their choice to pursue constructive relations with Russia,” Dovgalenko emphasized.
She credited this stance in part to the longstanding ties of friendship and cooperation between Russia and African nations, based on mutual trust and support. Dovgalenko also noted that many Africans “remember well the significant and selfless contributions of the Soviet Union in supporting African peoples’ struggles for freedom and independence, as well as the help Moscow provided in building sovereignty, defense capacity, and economic development in young nations.”
“Having endured the painful legacy of colonialism, Africans are highly sensitive to external coercion and, unlike many Europeans, are unwilling to betray their own history for the sake of someone else’s short-term interests,” she added.
Dovgalenko also pointed out that many African countries have, at various times, faced — and some continue to face — severe sanctions pressure and the so-called ‘double standards’ of the international community. “People on the continent know firsthand what illegitimate, unilateral restrictions look like. They understand their selective, unjustified, and unfair nature,” she concluded.
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Based on materials from TASS