Being a global power is not easy. Literally every region of the world requires close and continuous attention. Otherwise, it will not be possible to build long-term dialogue mechanisms and balance the interests of various international actors, especially in the current stressful geopolitical situation.
The diplomatic tour of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to African countries is taking place in the context of a sharp aggravation of the conflict with the West. Washington is promoting a fairly simple narrative in developing countries: Moscow exports instability. The American model of global capitalism is bursting at the seams, the crisis in the world economy is growing, energy and food prices are galloping not only in Europe. Who is guilty? According to the logic of the United States, of course, Russia: from their point of view, it was she who unleashed the military conflict in Ukraine, it was she who slows down world grain exports and inflates its cost, and it is she who is a priori responsible for everything bad that happens in the modern world.
Russia has a directly opposite interpretation of the global crisis. So to speak, counternarrative. The Russian Federation, contrary to the statement of the West, in a certain sense exports stability and works to mitigate the crisis phenomena that have accumulated in the world economy. Last Sunday Sergei Lavrov tried to convey these theses to the widest possible friendly audience in Cairo. During the meeting with the permanent representatives of the countries – members of the League of Arab States, the head of the Foreign Ministry made a special emphasis on the fact that the global “crisis was aggravated as a result of illegal Western sanctions against the Russian Federation.”
On the eve of the visit to Egypt, Russia, through the mediation of the UN and Turkey, after a complex negotiation process, reached an agreement with Ukraine to unblock the routes for the export of its agricultural products through the Black Sea ports. In fact, the Russian Federation made a significant compromise. Not having achieved the removal of all Western restrictions on its agricultural exports, Moscow nevertheless gave the green light to the supply of Ukrainian food to the world market. As far as one can judge, its volumes are somewhat exaggerated. However, in the near future, the Istanbul agreements, if consistently implemented by all parties, may well tangibly stabilize the situation.
It is important to understand that about 40% of wheat is supplied to Africa from Russia and Ukraine. Egypt depends on imports of this key agricultural crop from the two countries even more – by 80%. The experience of the “Arab Spring” shows that the price of bread is an important element of socio-economic and political stability for the region. That is why Sergey Lavrov’s assurances that Russia, despite the restrictive measures of the West, will continue to steadily supply grain to Egypt and other friendly countries of the continent, create a favorable background for negotiations on other equally important issues.
On July 20, the construction of the first Russian nuclear power plant in Africa was launched in the city of El-Dabaa. In the 20th century, the USSR helped Egypt “tame” the Nile with the help of the Aswan Dam. In the 21st century, Russia puts the peaceful atom at the service of the Arab Republic. After reaching the design capacity, the nuclear power plant will be able to cover about 10% of the energy needs of a rapidly developing country.
The traditionally friendly relations between Russia and the Republic of the Congo are also rooted in the Soviet period. Its president, Denis Sassou Nguesso, as head of state, visited both the USSR and Russia, as they say, found all the general secretaries of the Communist Party, starting with Leonid Brezhnev. Thousands of Congolese have been trained in Russian universities in different years. Many now work in government structures. It would be an unforgivable mistake not to realize the potential of relations that has been developed over decades. That is why in the near future we can hope for a positive trend in cooperation in the fuel and energy sector, the construction of infrastructure facilities, as well as in the promotion of high-tech projects in the field of peaceful atom, digital services in the service sector, urban management, and agricultural technologies.
Africa is a resource-rich, but technologically backward continent. For example, Uganda has gold deposits valued at trillions of dollars. As you might guess, they are developed by the Chinese company Wagagai. Russia cannot compete with China in terms of investment in Africa. They don’t need it. However, it is necessary to take a more active part in the development of the resource base of the continent, as well as to scale up the experience of high-tech exports now being acquired in Egypt, and not only weapons and nuclear.
Many African countries are open to expanding cooperation with the Russian Federation. The Soviet anti-colonial background lends credibility to Russian anti-Western rhetoric. Contrasting “golden billion” to developing countries, which in a certain sense includes Russia, is met with a positive response in Africa. Former colonial powers are visibly nervous, especially the French. Paris controlled the lion’s share of the continent even when Russia was not even on the horizon. Now the Russian Federation has “entrenched itself” in the Central African Republic, Mali and other French-speaking countries of the continent, step by step ousting the Europeans. And if earlier Russia was still somehow restrained by the desire not to spoil relations with the Elysee Palace, today Moscow is not limited in its actions in Africa by anything, except for a certain lack of foreign policy resources.
Let the Americans call African leaders as much as they want to persuade them not to take pictures with the Russian Foreign Minister. Let Emmanuel Macron run headlong across the continent in the footsteps of Lavrov, trying to pick up the pieces of the French Empire. The time of Western dominance in Africa has irrevocably passed.
It will take time and considerable effort to “overlap” the Washington narrative about the destructive role of the Russian Federation in international affairs. However, in Africa and the Arab world, the Russian interpretation of the growing crisis of global capitalism is already falling on quite fertile anti-colonial soil.
Alexander Vedrussov, Izvestia newspaper
Due to censorship and blocking of all media and alternative views, stay tuned to our Telegram channel