MOSCOW, June 23 — The Kremlin dismissed today comments by French President Emmanuel Macron that Russia was playing a destabilising role in Africa, citing Moscow’s deployment of mercenary groups there.

"Russia is developing friendly, constructive relations based on mutual respect and concern for each other’s problems,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"Our relations with all African countries are not directed — and cannot be directed — against third countries,” he added.

Macron had earlier today accused Russia of being "a destabilising force in Africa”, saying that Moscow’s influence in the region overall did not play a beneficial role for the international community.

"This is a destabilising force in Africa through private militias who come to prey on and commit abuses on civilian populations,” Macron said in an interview with French media on the sidelines of a global summit seeking to overhaul the international financial system.

"Russia on its own accord has put itself in a situation in which it no longer respects international law, becoming basically one of the only colonial powers of the 21st century, by waging an empire war against its neighbour, Ukraine,” he added.

The Russian mercenary group Wagner and its businessman leader Yevgeny Prigozhin have been repeatedly sanctioned by the European Union including for human rights abuses in Africa.

Prigozhin had his assets in the European Union frozen in 2020 and was placed on a visa blacklist over the deployment of Wagner fighters to war-torn Libya, a decision he unsuccessfully appealed.

A Russia-Africa summit, the second in the series, is to be held in Saint Petersburg at the end of July.

African countries have been badly hit by the inflationary surge triggered by the war, especially in cereals, of which they are major importers. — AFP