U.S. Congress Representatives Gregory W. Meeks (D-NY)  / Credit: meeks.gov)

By  Gary  Raynaldo     DIPLOMATIC  TIMES

Representatives Gregory W. Meeks and Michael McCaul, Chairman and Ranking Member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee  accused Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov of continuing to “peddle disinformation in Africa about Russia’s role in exacerbating the global food crisis.”  The statement was issued regarding Moscow’s top diplomat’s visit to Egypt, Uganda, Ethiopia, and the Republic of  Congo this week.  Moscow  dispatched its  Foreign Minister to African in an effort to win over the Continent against Western pressure over the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.  While in Uganda,  Lavrov said the only link with the Ukraine situation in food security “lies in the unlawful and aggressive sanctions” imposed by the West on the Russian Federation.

“In the wake of Putin’s brutal bombing of the Odesa port, essentially reneging on the UN-mediated agreement to allow grain shipments to leave the port, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov continues to peddle disinformation in Africa about Russia’s role in exacerbating the global food crisis. Make no mistake – the Putin regime has shown us time and again that it will stop at nothing to use food as a bargaining chip and a weapon of war. As food prices skyrocket throughout Africa, the Russian Federation is shamelessly attempting to shift the blame when the evidence of its recklessness and indifference to human suffering is clear.”

-Reps. Weeks, McCaul  statement 

The House passed H.R. 7311, the Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act, in late April. This bill, led by Chairman Meeks and Ranking Member McCaul, requires the Administration to assess and report on “the scale and scope of Russian disinformation, corruption, and other activities that undermine the interests of the U.S. and our African partners”.  Since February, Congress has provided nearly $8 billion to address rising food insecurity and “help alleviate the suffering that Putin’s war has caused in Africa and around the world.”    The West has blamed Russia’s war and its Black sea blockade of Ukrainian grain for skyrocketing global food prices that have sparked risks of famine in the Horn of Africa.