Putin Denies Insuting Countries In Africa To Fight France

Russian President Vladimir Putin. (PHOTO: RIA Novosti via kremlin.ru)

JAKARTA - Russia has not incited countries in Africa and has not made them oppose France because Moscow does not have such a task, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an interview with Rossiya 1 and Ria Novosti.

Putin said the sharp reaction from French President Emmanuel Macron to Moscow may be related to actions in Africa.

"Yes, I think there is some kind of hatred. But when we maintained direct contact with him, we spoke quite openly about this topic," Putin said as quoted by ANTARA from Sputnik, Wednesday, March 13.

"We did not go to Africa and did not force France out of there," continued the Russian leader.

Putin mengatakan di banyak negara di mana Prancis pernah medominasi secara bersejarah, berbagai negara itu dinilai tidak terlalu ingin berrusa dengan Paris, meskipun ada negara-negara Afrika lainnya yang tenang dengan kehadiran Prancis.

"However, we have nothing to do with it, we do not incite anyone there, we do not make anyone oppose France. We do not have such tasks," Putin said.

"To be honest, we don't have such state and national duties at the Russian state level. We're just friends with them (states in Africa)- that's all. They want to develop relations with us. For God's sake, we're willing to do that. No one needs to be offended," he added.

Putin went on to say that Russia did not force itself to Africa and did not force France out of there; African leaders themselves want to cooperate with the Russian Federation.

"We are not pushing anyone out. It's just that African leaders in some countries agree with Russian economic operators and want to cooperate with them but don't want to cooperate with France in some ways. That's not our initiative, but the initiative of our friends in Africa. However, it's not clear why they (France) should be offended by us in this regard," he said.

Putin said that an independent country certainly wants to develop relations with its partners from other countries, including the Russian Federation.