Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov . File photoMOSCOW, May 20.Russia understands, but does not like the attempt of France and other EU countries to dominate Africa and other regions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. another region of the world… speaking of Africa, when last September I was in New York for a session of the General Assembly, I had a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, and by the way, Josep Borrell, the current high representative of the European Union on foreign policy. Both of them expressed to me, and so tensely, their concern that Russia is developing contacts with Africa, and specifically with Mali, and conditioned this position in a colonial vein, saying that Africa is in the zone of influence and in the zone of interests of the European Union,» Lavrov told reporters after talks with Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop. 
Don't get anyone: the West is starving the poorest statesThe Russian minister added that he could not accept such arguments. «Africa is a zone of responsibility, a zone of influence, a zone of interests of the European Union. But, of course, I cannot accept such arguments. This is pure colonialism, neo-colonialism, the inability to part with the old habits that brought Africa to a difficult state in those days. Echoes of this the colonial past are still felt,” Lavrov said. Earlier, the Ministry of Territorial Administration and Decentralization of Mali said that the military, supported by the «Western state», attempted a coup d'état in Mali on the night of May 11-12, but the country's defense and security forces managed to stop it. The previous visit of the Malian Foreign Minister to Russia took place in November 2021. Then the minister held talks with his Russian colleague Sergey Lavrov and told him about the need to strengthen cooperation between Bamako and Moscow. From Russia
