Ahmad 
A senior Russian general says U.S. sanctions on Russia have led to a food crisis in Africa, escalating internal armed conflicts and regime change in a number of countries on the continent.
The Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General Valery Gerasimov, added in a briefing to foreign military attachés on the results of the activities of the Russian Ministry of Defense in 2023 that “the situation in Africa is still difficult, and the main negative impact on it is political instability and long-term internal conflicts in North Africa and the countries of the Sahara and Sahel region,” explaining that “Washington’s sanctions policy against Russia has provoked a food crisis on the African continent, which has increased social tension and public discontent with ruling regimes.” Gerasimov said this had led to an escalation of internal armed conflicts and a change of power in a number of countries.
The Russian general added that the activity of terrorist and extremist organizations, mainly linked to ISIS and al-Qaeda, has a devastating impact on the situation there, noting that the United States and its European allies are blackmailing African leaders to achieve their neo-colonial goals.
Gerasimov stressed that despite the West’s attempts to isolate Russia, the Ministry of Defense continued to increase the pace of interaction with foreign military institutions in many countries within the framework of military-technical cooperation, noting that special attention was paid to strengthening reliable and mutually beneficial bilateral relations within the Union State (Russia-Belarus), the Collective Security Treaty Organization and the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as with friendly countries from the Asia-Pacific region, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America.