MOSCOW, August 17. /TASS/. Unable to come to terms with the loss of its influence on the African continent, France is resorting to terrorist activity in a last gasp to hold on to it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference after talks with Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa.

"The Africa Corps of the [Russian] Defense Ministry operates on absolutely legitimate grounds in response to official requests from the legitimate governments of African countries and carries out the tasks that these legitimate governments assign to the units of the Africa Corps, primarily the task of repelling terrorist attacks, which are also planned by some countries that cannot accept the loss of their colonial influence in Africa," Lavrov said.

"It is no secret that France is involved in this; it works directly with illegal armed groups, arms them, finances them, and instructs them. First and foremost, it creates problems for those countries - in this case, the countries of the Sahel region - that have decided to completely and irrevocably break ties with their former colonial powers and are consistently pursuing this course.".