French President Emmanuel Macron accused Russia of seeking to destabilize Africa and adopt options not in the interest of the international community, in remarks on the sidelines of a summit in Paris on Friday.
Macron said that Russia is a destabilizing force in Africa through private militias that abuse civilians, noting that the United Nations documented the occurrence of this through the Wagner Group in the Central African Republic, during an interview with three French media outlets, “France Info”, “RFE” and “France 24”, on the sidelines of the New Global Compact summit, which is being hosted in Paris.
He believed that Moscow found itself in a situation in which it doesn’t respect international law, and has become one of the few colonial powers in the twenty-first century, by waging a colonial war against its neighbor Ukraine.
In response to a question about what his reaction would be if Russian President Vladimir Putin called him, Macron said, “I will definitely answer,” adding, “If he calls me to suggest something to me, I will respond because France has always been a facilitating and mediating power”.
However, he indicated that the resumption of dialogue won’t be possible unless international law is respected, and it’s the only one that allows us to live in peace”.
Macron stressed that there is no reason for him at the present time to initiate contact with his Russian counterpart, hoping that the time will come… for negotiations on Ukraine’s terms”.
In turn, the Kremlin confirmed on Friday work to establish “constructive relations” in Africa, in response to statements by French President Emmanuel Macron, in which he considered that Russia is a “destabilizing force” on the continent.
“Russia is weaving (with African countries) friendly, constructive relations based on mutual respect,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, stressing that “they aren’t directed against other countries and cannot be”.
On different context, the French President Manuel Macron wants to be the first Western leader to participate in the upcoming BRICS summit, which will be held in August in South Africa.
Moscow was surprised at the request, because the BRICS aims to reduce the West’s control over the world, and France is part of this West.
Last Tuesday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna informed South Africa of President Macron’s desire to attend this important international meeting with the BRICS member states, namely Russia, India, China, Brazil and South Africa.
The response came today from Moscow to the French request, as Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov declared, according to the Russian Kommersant daily newspaper, “It’s clear that the heads of state who pursue such a hostile and unacceptable policy towards us, are so determined to isolate Russia internationally and adhere to the NATO line of inflicting a strategic defeat in us, there is no place for them as guests”.
Admittedly, the host of the summit chooses the guests, the Russian diplomat acknowledged, “but all BRICS member states must be consulted, and we have not hidden our position from our colleagues in South Africa… We expect our point of view to be fully taken into account,” in refusing to attend the president French.
The establishment of the BRICS came to confront Western control over global institutions and to create a counter-body to the Big Seven (G7) that includes the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Italy, Germany and Japan, and a number of countries like Saudi Arabia and Algeria want to belong to it from the Arab world.
The presence of a Western president, in this case French Macron, supplying weapons to Ukraine to confront Russia in the ongoing war is questionable.
Analyzes here in France believe that Macron wants to play a role in the middle of the BRICS group in order to open negotiations among this group to put pressure on President Vladimir Putin to end the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Analysts don’t rule out Macron’s efforts to open up to other groupings, since he felt betrayed by the US-British duo when he excluded France from the submarine deal for Australia.
