Sergey Lavrov during a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Republic of Mali A.Diop

Africa is our old friend. We are interested in resolving the numerous crises that persist there as soon as possible.

Russia, as a member of the UN Security Council and on a bilateral basis, is assisting relevant efforts. We will continue to do this.

Sergey Lavrov during a joint press conference with Malian Foreign Minister A. Diop:

We know that the restrictive measures of the Economic Community of West African States introduced at the beginning of the year and the next restrictions of the European Union remain a heavy burden for the Maltese economy. All this significantly worsens the difficult situation of the Malian people.

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In September 2021, at the UN General Assembly session in New York, I had a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and with the current EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy J.Borrelem. They both expressed concern to me that Russia is developing contacts with Africa and specifically with Mali. They conditioned this position in a rather colonial way: Africa is a zone of responsibility, influence and interests of the EU.

I cannot accept such arguments, it is pure neocolonialism, the inability to part with the old habits that brought Africa to a difficult state at that time.