French President Emmanuel Macron is ready to increase support for African countries facing food and security problems in an attempt to stop the growing influence of Russia in the region.

Macron will visit Cameroon, Benin and Guinea-Bissau this week, while Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is touring other countries on the continent as Russia seeks to strengthen its relations in Africa after the invasion of Ukraine.

“Russia has launched a new type of hybrid world war,” Macron said at a joint press conference on Wednesday with his Benin counterpart, Patrice Talon.. "

Macron said in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde on Tuesday that Russia's blockade of Ukrainian ports and attacks on grain warehouses have disrupted global food supplies and caused shortages in Africa..

He promoted his so-called FARM initiative, through which France and its allies pledge to help developing countries improve their own agricultural potential..

His remarks were in response to a Russian version that Lavrov had repeated a few days earlier during a stopover in Egypt..

Lavrov said food shortages and inflation are the result of " African countries have largely refrained from criticizing the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Read more about how Russia is increasing its influence in Africa and promoting its own agenda in international relations in Ivan Belenko's article "