LETTER: Russia is not an ‘agent provocateur’
That title could aptly describe other countries
We took note of the latest article by Gerrit Olivier (“Unable to beat rivals in trade, Russia may try an agent provocateur role”, March 22). Regretfully, it presents a biased narrative of a “big bad Russia”, always doing something “nefarious and villainous”. Admitting that Russia is a “legitimate player in Africa, fully entitled to advance its interests”, the author, at the same time throws in wild allegations, avoids (or doesn’t know) facts and simply makes gaffes. Mr Olivier, Russia, unlike Western powers, does not have a single military base in Africa. Russia does not concentrate only on a dozen or so African states — we closely work with all of them and with the AU. The upcoming Russia-Africa summit in Sochi (October 2019) is hosted jointly with the AU. This list can be continued. Quoting John Bolton [the US national security adviser] in the article (obviously, as the ultimate authority), particularly, his accusation of Russia “undermining peace and security” in Africa, sounds v...
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