Russian MFA says many countries are trying to drive a wedge into Russia's ties with Africa

28 October 2021


Russian foreign ministry in connection with the article published in Echourok newspaper about allegedly "heated to the limit" relations between Russia and Morocco drew attention to the fact that a number of countries through disinformation are trying to drive a wedge between the bilateral relations of Moscow with African countries. The diplomatic mission called the information itself a fake and pseudo-analytics.


"It is no secret that many, including extra-regional players, are extremely annoyed by Moscow's strengthening ties with Algeria, Mali, Morocco and other states in the region and use any means, including disinformation, to drive a wedge between our bilateral relations and damage them," the ministry said. - "It's a pity that Muhammad Muslim did not seriously look into the essence of the issue, but simply published a fake story, filled with false analysis, apparently with the hope to win the favor of our opponents".


The ministry drew attention to the article "Russia in Africa" published by Echourok, which "no doubt claims a prize in two categories at once - 'classic example of disinformation' and 'pseudo-analytics'.


"The information about Russian-Moroccan relations "heated to the breaking point," including due to the strengthening of Russia's cooperation with Algeria, as written by Muslim, does not correspond to reality and exists only in the imagination of the Echourok author. Incidentally, the authoritative Moroccan newspaper www.le360.ma refers to a source at the local foreign ministry, which has categorically denied the emerging speculations about the crisis in relations. The Russian foreign ministry has done the same," the ministry pointed out.


Distorted facts


The Russian foreign ministry noted that the author of the article lists a number of facts: since October 5, flights between Russia and Morocco were suspended by Rabat, Russian ambassador Valeryan Shuvaev was " called back home for consultations ", and Moscow "decided to postpone" the 6th session of the Russian-Arab forum of cooperation at the level of foreign ministers, which was to be held on October 28 in Rabat, although in fact in Marrakech.


"By turning wishful thinking into reality, Muslim infer from this that 'Russian-Moroccan relations have heated up to the limit' and are experiencing a crisis, though carefully concealed by the parties," the diplomatic office pointed out.


"Reading such articles, one gets the idea that their authors are in a parallel universe and are completely unaware of the coronavirus pandemic raging in our world since 2020. Since the fall of 2021, many countries, including our own, are facing another wave of infection. Thus, the Moroccan authorities made the decision to suspend flights due to the deteriorating sanitary-epidemiological situation in Russia. There is no political subtext here," stressed the foreign ministry.


As for the absence of the head of the Russian diplomatic mission in the country, used by Muslim as a clue in favor of his conspiracy fabrications, the situation looks different than it is presented by the Algerian journalist who claims that it is about "recall for consultation," noted the diplomatic mission. In fact, Shuvaev was on leave and had already returned to Rabat on October 24 to take up his duties, the ministry informed.

 

 

GSV "Russia - Islamic World"

Photo: Creative Commons

Based on materials from TASS