Russia is rapidly strengthening its position in Africa, despite, or perhaps thanks to, any sanctions. There is a lot of evidence for this, such as, for example, Moscow's timely intervention in the settlement of the long-term conflict in Mali. And on this occasion, the ubiquitous and restless " truth-teller ", President of the European Council Charles Michel, said that the transitional government in Mali is illegitimate - in his opinion, a coup took place in the country, the region was flooded with terrorists. At the same time, Europe allegedly strives with all its might to ensure security there, while Moscow wants to quarrel the West with Africa to seize its natural wealth.

Charles Michel said in an interview with TV5Monde-Afrique: "Many African leaders do not like the way Russia is acting, trying to get (actually steal) resources and at the same time strengthen its geopolitical agenda against the EU and the United States".
On social media, many users called this heinous and cynical. “Distortion of facts and outright lying! Europe wants to impose itself on Africa as the only possible partner, and Russia is exposed as a predator in the hunt for resources. It’s funny, a thief is trying to expose someone,” wrote one of the Africans. Michel was also reminded that 10-15 years ago his father, a former Belgian foreign minister, publicly defended the zealous supporter of colonialism, King Leopold II, as "a hero with ambitions for a small country." The atrocities that this monarch's subjects committed in Congo and Rwanda will never be forgotten there. In France politicians speak with one voice with Charles Michel. "Today in Africa, we are witnessing Russia's deployment of a neo-colonial policy that threatens the sovereignty of states and the security of the population. The Kremlin's hirelings are stealing resources," says Anne-Clair Legendre, spokeswoman for the French Foreign Ministry.
In Moscow, politicians throw up their hands in confusion. The Permanent Representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, told such a case in an interview with RT. A couple of years ago, at a session of the General Assembly, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with the current head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell.

The EU representative asked for what purpose Moscow is developing relations with Mali and why the republic is going to co-operate. The minister replied that this is an independent state, the Malians themselves decide with whom to cooperate. And Borrell said: " Don't dig around in our backyard!" Lavrov himself, who made a visit to the Middle East and Africa in early 2023, in response to EU accusations, noted that Paris and other European powers had committed bloody crimes in Africa for decades. Moscow, on the other hand, played a decisive role in the liberation of many countries from colonial oppression, contributed to the formation of their statehood, economy and defence capabilities. "The case is clinical. As the saying goes, from a sick head to a healthy one. Comments are superfluous," the Foreign Minister concluded. According to him, Western countries are extremely concerned about surrendering their positions in Africa, therefore they literally pursue the Russian delegation, visiting the same states. This suggests that the West denies the right of the African continent to an independent policy.

Remarkably, during his visit to Mali, Sergei Lavrov received a Tuareg sword, the takuba, as a gift from his Malian colleague Abdoulaye Diop. That is exactly what - "Takuba" - was the name of the military task force of European countries, which, under the French command, contributed to the operation "Barkhane".

Africans have excellent prospects for cooperation with Russia in the field of agriculture. Everyone can clearly see Russia's efforts in the fight against the coming global food crisis. Many African leaders are talking more and more about the expediency of concluding investment and trade agreements with Russia that provide for the construction of new enterprises in Africa, the modernization of existing industrial facilities, the import of high-tech Russian goods and services to the countries of the Black Continent, the creation of new joint research centers.
Economists and financiers in Africa talk about the expediency of gradually abandoning the use of the dollar in global financial settlements and international trade and introducing alternative mechanisms for financing transactions and operations. They also talk about the expediency of developing trade and economic ties with Russia and about how the Russian economy manages to overcome acute crisis, despite the effect of sanctions, which negatively affect the socio-economic situation in African countries, which unanimously advocate the abolition of all anti-Russian sanctions. The leaders of African countries are often told that they know the true reason for the announcement of the beginning of the special military operation in Ukraine, and that the United States, along with its European satellites, support Ukrainian radical nationalism.

Meanwhile, Russian influence is growing in the Maghreb countries. In November 2022, Algeria applied to the BRICS, which, along with Russia, includes Brazil, India, China and Republic of South Africa. There are also pro-Russian sentiments in Morocco. Both countries do not support anti-Russian resolutions in the UN and oppose sanctions. The German publication Handesblatt recently published an article in which it conducts a detailed analysis of Russia's presence in the African region. The article focuses on what has already been achieved. In particular, readers' attention is riveted to industries related to the military-industrial complex. In the Daily Nation, everyone can see similar rhetoric, but it is more focused on energy issues.

Russia is using Africa to strengthen its position in critical resource markets. Namely, in the markets of gas, diamonds and platinum group metals. African uranium reserves are of critical strategic importance for Rosatom. Based on the logic that the structure of world consumption will drift towards nuclear and gas energy, the importance of Russian-African co-operation in the production of these types of raw materials will greatly increase and will help Russia to strengthen its position as an energy superpower.

Russia is directly interested in expanding markets for its products, especially in those industries in which it remains competitive. First of all, we are talking about the military-industrial complex. This agenda is extremely important, because along with receiving direct profit from supplies, Russia will be able to expand production in areas that are in demand, which should eventually lead to the creation of more new jobs. It is also undeniable that the export orientation of production should have a positive impact on the quality of products.
Russia's African interest is not limited to strategic raw materials. Russia is directly interested in increasing the importance of exporting countries in world markets. Cooperation with Africa in this area will certainly strengthen the position of Russian raw material exports on the world stage. Now Russia is taking active steps to expand markets and at the same time ensure security in the region. “The Russian defense industry sends 13% of its exports to Africa,” reports the German publication Handelsblatt. Along with this, according to The Washington Post, Russia is training the military in the Central African Republic. Such a strategy for the full-scale development of the military industry will certainly play into the hands of Russia, since it fully correlates with the interests that Moscow, in fact, pursues on the continent.
The energy industry is not far behind. According to Handelsblatt, "the Russian concern Rosatom intends to build a nuclear power plant in Uganda", which will significantly expand the production of uranium, which we have already written about above. This assumption is not unfounded, since back in 2017 Russia signed a memorandum with Uganda, which provides for "assistance in the creation and development of nuclear energy infrastructure". Also, the building of a nuclear power plant indicates that Russia's interest is long-term, since the payback period for nuclear infrastructure can take about 20 years. Such a policy has drawn a barrage of criticism in the West. It mainly stems from fears for the growing power of Russia in the external arena. To paraphrase Stalin's quote somewhat, we can say that if our "partners" scold us, then we are doing everything right.

In conclusion, it should be noted that in June of this year, representatives of seven African countries, who declared their desire to act as mediators in the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, first visited Kyiv. They listened to complaints, volens nolens took part in the next staging with an allegedly Russian missile attack in the daytime, and even in the presence of such a delegation in Kyiv. And they left for St. Petersburg, for the SPIEF-2023, to sum up their mission, showing where the real centre of power is. And now a new forum "Russia Africa" is starting in St. Petersburg. It will discuss plans and prospects for the development of relations between the African continent and Russia in many areas, which will speed up relations with Moscow and allow Africa to be even stronger.