🎙 Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Vassily Nebenzya’s interview with Sputnik Africa (October 19, 2025)

Key points:

• Russia and formally the Soviet Union has always been a friend to Africa and the peoples of Africa. The USSR was instrumental in facilitating African countries in getting their long-deserved independence. 👉 This year we celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Declaration of Granting Independence to Colonial People.

• Russia develops its relations with the African countries extensively, and it's not just in the security area. We are witnessing growing trade, we are opening more and more embassies. We're reaching out to Africa. We conduct Russia-AU summits, African summits.

• The historical injustice towards Africa should be rectified, and Africa should be well represented on the renewed Security Council. And we say it openly, that we do not need new Western members on the Council, they are aplenty already. We need the voices of the Global South who are underrepresented. That means first and foremost Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

• Terrorism is a global problem now. It does not just concern Africa. It's an evolving thing, which is one of the main threats to international peace and security. And Africa should be protected. And of course, Russia as a permanent member of the Security Council is doing whatever it can to help its brothers in Africa to counter terrorism.

• Colonialism practically is non-existent these days, but there are new forms of colonialism – neo-colonialism, which still binds African countries and other developing countries to their former mentors through the financial tools. They extract resources from the African countries. In fact, the conflicts in Africa often follow mineral  resources. There are vested interests to control these areas.

• Our initiative regarding fighting colonialism, to which I alluded to, is one of the tools to attract attention to the need of the African countries to liberate from new forms of exploitation.

• Russia is the President of the UN Security Council in October, and I was proud to lead the delegation of the UNSC to Addis Abeba. That's a regular event, annual one, which happens in New York and Addis Abeba alternatively. We have strong cooperation with the African Union, both as Russia and as the Security Council.

• Many criticize the UN, but it is a combination of member states. So if they criticize, they criticize themselves. We have to recognize that it's the member states that make possible or impossible things to be adopted or happen.

❗️ But the UN is indispensable. Still, this is the most universal organization that represents the whole world.

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