Russia has accused the United States of promoting anti-Russia propaganda in African media outlets and has demanded the US to stop its mentor-like attitude towards developing countries.
This is contained in a statement delivered last week by the Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova.
According to Zakharova, the US Department of State has allocated grants to journalists, education institutions and Non-governmental organizations of African countries for countering alleged Russian propaganda in media space.
She also claimed that the funds are being given to the organizations under the pretext of increasing the transparency of state institutions and boosting the stability of the judicial system on the African continent.
Russia believes the funds are part of Washington’s striving to eliminate the “favourable regional socio-political background” with regard to Russia which the European country said became particularly obvious following the Russia-Africa Summit in Sochi in October 2019.
“It appears that the United States is deliberately encouraging anti-Russia publications in some African media outlets and is trying to portray Russia as a destabilising force. We are confident that such methods of unfair competition and misinformation show that there is no hard evidence confirming the so-called Russian policy of propaganda and misinformation, and this is also the consequence of weak US approaches in the field of public diplomacy,” Zakharova said.
She added that allocation of grants fits into the White House’s efforts to promote the idea that there is no alternative to Western concepts regarding state governance and the imposition of alien values on sovereign states.
She said: “We see that as yet another manifestation of neo-colonialism and an element of covertly formalizing inequality in the overall system of international ties.
“In the context of the 60th anniversary of passing the UN Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples, due to be marked in December, we urge our US colleagues to follow the spirit of this highly important historical document and to completely renounce their mentor-like attitude towards developing countries.”
