Germans such as Franfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and Süddeutsche Zeitung came out on Sunday criticizing the agreement reached by Turkey, between Russia and Ukraine, to resume food exports.
They were called “Erdogan shapes foreign policy as he sees fit”, without listening to NATO, “Putin can’t be trusted” and “even optimists knew the deal wouldn’t last”. Here and there they acknowledge that “Nevertheless Ukraine wants to prepare for export of grain”.
The New York Times, on the other hand, gave priority to the Russian foreign minister’s trip to Africa, which Egypt began over the weekend, calling for the fact that he “blames the US and its allies for the famine”.
It was in an article that Sergei Lavrov published in newspapers such as the Egyptian Al-Ahram, the Congolese Dispatch, the Ugandan New Vision, the Kenyan Star and the Ethiopian Herald. In the excerpt quoted by the NYT, “We know that fellow Africans do not approve of the undisguised attempts by the US and its European satellites to impose a unipolar world order.”
On the “serious situation in the food market”, Lavrov blamed the West for “absorbing the flow” already during the pandemic, to the detriment of importing developing countries, which “was exacerbated with the sanctions imposed on Russia”.
“It is essential that all our African friends understand that Russia will continue to fulfill its obligations in good faith to export food, fertilizers, energy and other vital goods to Africa. Russia is taking all steps to do so.”
The NYT says that “prior to the visit, Western diplomats lobbied behind the scenes for Egypt not to give Lavrov a very warm welcome, but the attempts, including editorials and social media posts, did little to attract more public support.”
COMPETITION
Bloomberg reports that Russian channel RT is setting up its English-speaking Central African Newsroom in South Africa, to be headed by a South African journalist who was directing coverage in the Middle East.
“On a continent that has refrained from criticizing” Russia, Bloomberg says, “the operation puts RT in competition with other government-backed broadcasters such as Britain’s BBC and China’s CGTN.”
