Reacting to the intentions displayed by Paris to create a new vector of influence on the African continent, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs considered that the latter was aimed at discrediting Moscow and restoring the tarnished image of France.
The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has reacted to the desire displayed by Paris to create a new online media to cover the news of the African continent from the French point of view, a project which had been mentioned The letter a in November, indicating that the Quai d’Orsay was planning to draw inspiration “particularly from Brut”, a medium that has had some success with its videos geared towards social networks.
The contours of the project would become clearer, according to a note from the network of economic intelligence experts AEGE, according to which the file aroused the interest of Anne-Claire Legendre, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The “House of African Worlds and Diasporas”, a structure supported by Emmanuel Macron since 2021 in order to revitalize relations between Paris and Africa, could accompany the launch of this new support.
Russian diplomacy questioned this assertion, considering that the editorial policy of the new medium will most likely be “directly supervised by the Quai d’Orsay, acting in the ‘best traditions’ of state propaganda”. While the influence of France is in free fall on the African continent, a trend further illustrated recently by the request made to Paris by Burkina Faso to withdraw its troops, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs argues that the content of this future media online will be of “dual use”, since it will “aim less to convey to Africans the French vision of global and regional problems” than to “discredit Russia, which has historically maintained friendly relations with many states on the continent” .
According to Russian diplomacy, French ambition nevertheless seems futile given its very degraded image in Africa: “Does Paris really believe that the dissemination of its own videos on social networks will correct the colonial and neocolonial image of France in Africa? “, she quips.
Russian diplomacy denounces Paris’ double talk on freedom of expression
The ministry also castigated France’s “selective approach” to freedom of expression and information, insofar as “all resounding statements and […] of use on freedom of expression are ephemeral in France”. According to Russian diplomacy, Paris is trying “to prevent the dissemination of any information different from its official position, both inside the country and abroad”, a practice whose…
