On 24 July, in preperation of the Russia-Africa Summit, the Kremlin published an article, allegedly penned by none other than the liar-in-chief Vladimir Putin himself, pondering joining Russian and African ‘efforts for peace, progress and a successful future’.
Besides the usual anti-Western rhetoric, this article was also a prime example on an information manipulation tactic we like to call ‘Kremlin Newspeak’. In fact, we have already published several volumes on EuvsDisinfo, translating the Kremlin and its master’s newspeak for the world to see.
Let’s have a look at what Putin said in this article, and what he really meant.
| What Putin said | What he really means | |
| “We have consistently supported African peoples in their struggle for liberation from colonial oppression” | We have meddled, bribed and terrorized people, e.g. by deploying a private military company and using political blackmail | |
| “We have never tried to impose on partners our own ideas about the internal structure, forms and methods of management” | As long as you support us and agree with our imperialist worldview, we might leave you be | |
| “We are sure that a new multipolar world order, [..] will be more just and democratic” | We want to build a world where might makes right. No international law. | |
| “The long-standing conflicts that exist in nearly every region are deepening” | We create instability globally, protracting conflicts and started a full scale war against Ukraine | |
| “Further instruments are being actively developed to better structure economic relations” | We will continue to use bribery and economic blackmail to push Russia’s interests, and Wagner (or its successor) might still continue doing its dirty business in Africa | |
| “Russian companies are interested in working more actively on the continent in the sphere of high technologies and geological exploration” | We like how the Wagner Group does mining business in several African countries: loot the resources as payment for protection of regimes against their own population. We want more of it. | |
| “We understand the importance of uninterrupted food supplies for the socio-economic development and political stability of the African states” | By destroying Ukrainian grain we can blackmail you and use food as weapon | |
| “Sanctions imposed on our exports severely hamper the supply of Russian food products to developing countries” | Blame the West, not Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, for disrupting the food supply. Distract from the fact that sanctions do not target food and agricultural products, and explicitly exclude food supplies and fertilisers. | |
| “Grain deal [..] has been used solely for enrichment of US and European businesses” | Shift the blame away from Russia for increasing global food insecurity | |
| “there is no longer any use in continuing the grain deal” | We sunk the deal. We bomb Ukrainian ports to destroy Ukraine’s export and use food for blackmail | |
| “Over 70 percent of the exports ending up in high- and upper-middle-income countries” | By quoting a misleading figure we try to conceal, that majority of the food exports from Ukraine was sent to developing countries. | |
| “Countries as Ethiopia, Sudan and Somalia, as well as Yemen and Afghanistan, received less than 3 percent of the supplies” | We use another figure without context to try to conceal, that despite all the effort of the Russian army, Ukraine remained by far the biggest supplier to UN World Food Programme. | |
| “our country is capable of replacing the Ukrainian grain” | We want to make you dependent on Russia and will sell you stolen grain from Ukraine to do that | |
| “We are ready to build pragmatic, mutually beneficial relations” | We are sticking to the Cold War mentality about ‘spheres of influence’. Your sovereignty means nothing. | |
| “Bringing humanitarian, cultural, sports and mass media cooperation to a whole new level would serve our common interests” | We will condition the food supply on you parroting our disinformation in various international fora and sport associations in order to serve our selfish interests |
Don’t be deceived. Russia uses food as weapon.
