The context is important. France and other Western powers had historically treated Africa and the people from that continent in a very bad way, as land and merchandise which belonged directly to them to fulfill their own national purposes and boost their economies, in detriment of the quality of life of those who got colonized.
Those traces of colonization continued to be present even after those African republics regain their independence, in the form of industries and companies owned by France (in the case) which had almost a blank check to continue to exploit the natural resources of those territories. France needed the uranium of those African republics, to continue to grow energy independent.
Since Russia never had big colonies in Africa, the African people believe the Kremlin is different from the French, when in reality, Russia could have as many imperialistic aspirations as the French, or even more..
Why are you picking on Africans like that? Do you think that they are all that stupid?
There are a lot of really smart things that have come out of Africa. And if you are referring to some of their mistakes, there are stupid people all over the world.
Do you think that with all their troubles with the West in the past, that they haven't figure out how to get on the Internet and learn what Russia was in the past... the USSR? Do you think that they haven't studied about Stalin?
I kinda like how cleverly you go about whatever it is that you are going about.
I am not in any way, shape or form suggesting the people from Africa is stupid. But it is a reality they were colonized and taken advantage of during decades or even centuries by colonial powers from the west.
Actually, it is not a phenomenon which is exclusive from the African continent, here in Latin America we have a very long history on how we had been colonized and exploited by the people from Europe, specially Spain and Portugal I did not mention it because we were talking about France and we cannot deny the participation of France in the colonization of Africa.
Also, I wonder what you mean exactly when you bring the former Soviet Union onto the table. Sure, the Soviet Union was a super power in the twentieth century with many good things, but it was also an authoritarian state which suppressed many of the civil liberties if their her citizens, to be point of being the prosecution of religions part of their government program. That is not the model of government which is supposed to be desired by the African people to their republics.
Considering your personal ideas, it is kind of strange you would mention the Soviet Union from a positive point of view, we are talking about a socialist republic, after all.
My point about the USSR and Africa is that with the Internet, the nations of Africa can easily see what Russia was in the past. So, they wouldn't be kicking the US and France out, and inviting Russia in, if there wasn't some good that they found in Russia (or worse bad in the West). Your view of Russia (along with
paxmao's) is skewed in a wrong direction, probably because of Stalin, and decades of false narratives about Russia being spread through the media.
You are reasonably logical in the things you say. Step back and look at the whole picture. ANY nation wants to advance. So, Russia and the United States both want to advance, too. But it's the US that is doing the exact things that you are ascribing to Russia. The difference is in the way that the US is doing them.
Russia did it by direct force through their arm called the USSR. Note that the Bolshevik Revolution was put in place by the US, and wealthy individuals from the US and Europe. These wealthy people wanted to steal Russia way back then, the same as their families want to do today. But people like Stalin stopped the US, even though Stalin was thoroughly wicked.
We can see from this that the US is doing the things that Stalin and the USSR wanted to do. But the US is sneaky about it. They don't do it the same way the USSR tried to do it, by direct force. It is to Russia's benefit to be a good benefactor to nations. It needs all the help it can get to fight the sneaky US, and the criminal US banking system, which is the problem against the whole world.
The US banking system won't formally take over and crush even the American people, until it is in a position of strength. But they are crushing even the American people, because this might be their last chance to crush Russia and take over the world. How are they crushing the American people? Through getting them to believe a false narrative about their own government (via the media and school propaganda training), and by causing the inflation that is wrecking individual families in the US.
The US has always been a method for wealthy families to use to conquer the world, right from its inception.