The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 29th July 2022
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
Week commencing 29th July 2022
The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain
RUSSIAN Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is touring Africa to build support for the Kremlin’s defence of the people of the Donbas whilst People’s China repeats its call for an immediate cease-fire to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine. But Anglo-American and Franco-German imperialism seem determined to prolong the conflict by imposing more sanctions on Russia and stepping up their supply of advanced weapons to prop up the Zelensky regime in Kiev.
Speaking at a security forum in America the Chinese ambassador, Qin Gang, called for an end to the fighting and the resumption of peace talks between all the parties involved including the Americans and NATO.
But Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba says peace negotiations with Moscow would make sense only after Russia’s defeat on the battlefield. By saying so, he echoed the remarks of EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who claimed that “this war will be won on the battlefield”. This, the Kremlin says, shows that the Ukrainian government was not seeking peace for the country. Instead of talking with Russia, Ukraine was choosing to sing along to Washington’s tune.
Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s Africa tour is in full swing, with leadership talks in Egypt, Uganda, Republic of Congo and Ethiopia to make the Kremlin’s case for its Ukrainian intervention and strengthen co-operation and trade between Africa and the Russian Federation.
Mining
The Western countries’ action in concert with Ukraine’s mining of the Black Sea has prompted a global shortage of grain as shipments from two major producers, Russia and Ukraine, were ground to a near halt.
The West blames Russia but the Kremlin says their grain exports have been undermined by Western sanctions that prevent Russian ships from entering European ports and European vessels from docking in Russian ports.
As a result, global grain prices have surged hitting the economies of the countries of the Middle East and Africa and triggering fears of possible famine.
Lavrov assured the African leaders that Moscow is not seeking to prevent grain exports from leaving Ukraine’s ports. Ukraine, Russia, the UN and Turkey have agreed to unblock exports of grain from Ukrainian ports, and Russia and the United Nations have also signed a memorandum to lift the restrictions on the export of Russian grain and fertilisers to world markets.
Most African countries have economic interests and historic ties with the Kremlin, and they have rejected Western calls to join the imperialist economic blockade of Russia.
Lavrov said African countries were trying to define their own futures and solve their own problems as part of a trend towards a multipolar world, which he accused the West of opposing in its pursuit of US hegemony.
Lavrov said that the West’s current policy, which mostly boils down to attempts at isolating Moscow and hitting it with sanctions, has prompted a greater emphasis on Africa by the Russian government.
“We have our principle, our long-term relations, which do not depend on the current global situation and so our work in the sphere of ties with African countries will expand. But given the current situation and the current activities undertaken by the West, objectively the role of the African continent will grow in our work,” Lavrov said.
The Russian foreign minister added that apart from the ever-increasing importance of the African line of his ministry’s work, the Western line of work effectively “cancels itself out”.
Lavrov stressed that in addition to boosting co-operation with the African continent, Moscow is also preparing for a second Russia–Africa summit following the success of the first one held in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi in 2019. The second summit is set to take place in 2023 and preparations have already begun, he said, adding that participant countries’ working groups are already discussing parameters of future meaningful co-operation agreements.