French President Emmanuel Macron accused Russia of fueling anti-French propaganda in Africa to serve “predatory” ambitions in troubled African countries where France has suffered military setbacks and lost more influence in recent years, Reuters reported on Sunday, citing Agerpres. .

Speaking on the sidelines of a summit of French-speaking countries in Tunisia, Macron was asked to respond to criticism that France is using historic economic and political ties in its former colonies to serve its own interests.

“This perception is fueled by others, it is a political project,” Macron said in an interview with TV5 Monde. “I’m not stupid, many influencers who sometimes talk about your programs are paid by the Russians. We know them,” he said.

“Several states that want to spread their influence in Africa are doing it to harm France, to harm its language, to sow doubts, but above all to pursue certain interests,” he added.

France, the former colonial power in much of West and Central Africa, has long-standing military ties in French-speaking Africa, and French troops have been stationed in Mali for a decade as part of a counter-terrorism operation.

Critics describe France’s operation as a failure and accuse it of further destabilizing the region.

It has also vied for influence with Russia in recent years, deploying a private military contractor, the Wagner Group, to several countries, including the Central African Republic and Mali.

Paris was forced to withdraw its troops from Mali after the African country’s army seized power in a 2020 coup amid deteriorating relations. Subsequently, the military leadership invited the Wagner Group to help in the decade-long fight against Islamist militants and severed ties with France.

Emmanuel Macron: “The Russian project is being implemented there. This is a robbery project. He is doing it with the complicity of the Russian military junta.”

Russia has stated that Wagner does not represent the Russian state and does not receive money from it. But the EU imposed sanctions on the Wagner Group, accusing it of conducting covert operations on behalf of the Russian government.

Last year, a United Nations report alleged that Russian military instructors and local forces in the Central African Republic used excessive force against civilians, killed indiscriminately, occupied schools and looted on a large scale.

The Kremlin has called it a lie that Russian instructors took part in killings or robberies in the gold- and diamond-rich country of 4.7 million people.

On Sunday, Macron called Russia’s behavior “predatory.”

“You only have to look at what is happening in the Central African Republic or elsewhere to see that there is a Russian project, and when France is excluded, it is a robbery project,” Macron said.

“He is doing it with the complicity of the Russian military junta,” he added.

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