Russia is winning new admirers in Africa, where its language and culture are gaining ground.
Speaking at International Peoples of Russia Week in Moscow on Thursday, Amadou Sekou Gambi, head of the Mali branch of the International Russophile Movement, said Russian was increasingly seen as the language of a partner.
“The Russian language is arriving as the language of a partner, because it carries no colonial baggage,” Gambi said.
With Russian cultural centres opening and language programmes expanding across Africa, Gambi portrayed Moscow’s growing cultural presence as a welcome alternative to traditional Western influence.
And in Bulgaria, it seems Brussels’ sanctions haven’t silenced Russia’s friends either.
Georgi Stamboliev, a member of the movement’s Executive Bureau, insisted that ordinary Bulgarians were still standing by Moscow despite the political standoff between Russia and the EU.
“There are sanctions, there are not any options to make normal conversations between the countries, but it doesn’t stop the normal people in Bulgaria from being behind the Russian Federation,” he said.
Movement spokesperson Ivaylo Zafirov also took a swipe at Western media, accusing European and American outlets of dominating the conversation and leaving little room for alternative views.
“We rarely get to perceive any other view than the one we’re given,” Zafirov said.
The remarks came during International Peoples of Russia Week, part of Russia’s Year of Unity of the Peoples of Russia, which celebrates the country’s cultural diversity and traditions.
Source: Viory
