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“You have to respect your traditions and values” is the message that the Russians are taking to Africa to counter what they see as the decadent West. Russia is preparing to develop a series of humanitarian projects to help the most disadvantaged on the continent, especially children. Several announcements to this effect are expected to be made at the Russia-Africa summit to be held next week, on July 27-28, in Saint Petersburg.
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By Anya Stroganova
At the head of this vast undertaking is Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Commissioner for Children. The deceptively sweet 39-year-old blonde’s name made international headlines last March when the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for her and Vladimir Putin. The charges against her were: “Alleged war crimes of illegal deportation of children from the occupied Ukrainian territories to the Russian Federation.”
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In February, when she met with Vladimir Putin, Maria Lvova-Belova informed the Russian president of her desire to carry out humanitarian activities in Africa. “In the framework of our partnership strategy with African countries, I would like to ask your blessing to provide humanitarian aid, to carry out a humanitarian mission in Africa. There are many needs, especially in terms of vaccination, health and education,” he declared. the Commissioner for Children, who then announced: “At the Russia-Africa summit we will dedicate an entire session to the defense of children’s rights”.
With the blessing of the Orthodox Church
“Go for it,” encourages her Vladimir Putin. If Maria Lvova-Belova literally asked for the blessing of the Russian president to carry out her project in Africa, she went out of conviction.
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A deeply pious woman, wife of a priest and mother of five children, not to mention the many children in her care, she recently met with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church to discuss her work, particularly in Africa.
Patriarch Cyril has also blessed his commitment to Africa. He is also expected to attend the St. Petersburg summit.
Family and tradition, two pillars of Russian soft power
For Maxim Matusevich, a historian and specialist in Africa at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, the promotion of traditional values is part of Russia’s soft power on the African continent: “If we look at what Russia can offer Africa, we don’t there is a lot, but the little that is there is important. They export arms: 50% of the arms that reach the continent come from Russia. As for the rest, it is not really ideology, it is moralistic ideas: the preservation of traditional values, the traditional conception of the genre.
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For this researcher of Russian origin, the ICC arrest warrant should not hinder the work of the Russian commissioner in Africa: “It may upset some African heads of state, but this arrest warrant is above all one more confirmation that Russia really opposes the West.”
The program for the St. Petersburg summit, available online, includes a session on “artificial and unnatural pseudo-values that are actively imposed” by the West.
