Many leaders from the continent will travel to St. Petersburg for a landmark summit with Russia, Oleg Ozerov has said
Western countries have tried to strong-arm African nations into skipping a major summit with Russia set to begin later this week in St. Petersburg but have failed in their efforts, Moscow’s ambassador-at-large Oleg Ozerov has said.
In an interview with RIA Novosti released on Tuesday, Ozerov, who is also the chair of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum Secretariat, accused the West of piling up “permanent” pressure on Africa in a bid to drive a wedge between the continent and Moscow.
He claimed that Western diplomats were “literally discouraging African states from traveling to Russia on a daily basis, bluntly demanding that African countries choose a camp – ‘either you are with us or you are against us.’” Besides applying pressure via diplomatic channels, the US and the EU have tried to use their financial leverage,…
