Letter to the editor regarding the 19 May 2026 article in the M&G

The Embassy of the Russian Federation has taken note of the opinion piece published in the Mail & Guardian on 19 May 2026, authored by Mr. Wellington Muzengeza, titled “Africa’s new information war: The leaked files that expose a manufactured solidarity.” We consider this publication a poorly disguised attempt to cast a shadow over the rapidly developing, mutually beneficial partnership between the Russian Federation and the African continent. It is regrettable that Mr. Muzengeza decided to make unsubstantiated claims, based on anonymous “leaked documents” from clearly biased sources, which have become somewhat of a tool in the geopolitical smear campaign against the emerging multipolar world order. The article tries to construct a fake reality, presenting Russia’s diverse and deep ties with Africa as a monolithic and malign “influence architecture”. The allegations are built on a pre-existing and openly racist UK/EU template, which suggests African nations are passive, easily swayed by “elite capture” and “engineered narratives”. This narrative denies the African nations of the right to be sovereign actors making independent choices according to their own national interests. This colonialistic view reveals the true mindset of those who stand behind this opinion piece. These people simply cannot conceive international relations outside the paradigm of take-up-the-whiteman’s burden and neo-colonial exploitation, a framework that Russia categorically rejects and has been vehemently opposed to for ages. The key thesis of a “manufactured solidarity” is a direct insult to the decades-long, principled ties between our peoples. Our solidarity is not and cannot be manufactured; it was forged in the crucible of history, through the USSR’s unequivocal support for African decolonization and liberation movements, and it continues today in our joint fight against modern forms of neo-colonialism and for the true democratization of international relations. The foundation of this p