Russian Federation teaches African journalists to spread Russian propaganda - Le Monde
Kyiv • UNN
Le Monde has revealed the activities of Russian special services in training 60 Malian journalists to promote Moscow's interests in Africa. The training is conducted by the African Initiative agency, created to spread pro-Russian propaganda.
Since July, African publications “African Initiative” and “Agence de presse”, run by Russian special services, have been training 60 Malian so-called journalists to promote Moscow's interests on the continent. This is reported by the French edition of Le Monde, according to UNN.
Details
This publication and several of its partners in other countries published an article about the so-called “school of journalists” in the Malian capital, Bamako. According to the newspaper, this institution trains personnel for a news agency created by Russian intelligence and spreading pro-Russian propaganda.
The material says that the lectures were delivered in “sophisticated French” by Mikhail Pozdnyakov, the head of the agency's French office. He promoted the thesis that the Internet is a field of geopolitical confrontation and advised his students to come up with headlines like: “Macron go away: results of Lavrov and Yevkurov's visit to French Africa”, Le Monde writes.
The school enrolled 60 people, the best of whom were promised jobs at the Africa Initiative agency. Malian journalist and influencer Robert Dissa, known for his pro-Russian publications, participated in the selection of students. He was organized a trip to Moscow and then to the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol. Pozdnyakov confirmed this detail to Le Monde, calling it a “press visit to the liberated territories.
It is noted that the Africa Initiative has offices in three Sahelian countries, where military regimes friendly to Russia are in power.
