African states fully understand the reason behind the current geopolitical crisis, which is the Western attempt to establish a unipolar world, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in Ethiopia on Wednesday.

"Our African colleagues perfectly understand the root cause of what is happening, which is the collective West’s attempt to slow down the objective historical process, the formation of a just, democratic order, and cling to the elusive prospect of the so-called unipolar world," the top Russian diplomat told a press conference after meeting with his Ethiopian counterpart Demeke Mekonnen.

Lavrov stressed that Ethiopia had a balanced and responsible position in the United Nations regarding the Ukraine war.

Lavrov arrived in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, which is also regarded as the diplomatic capital of Africa, where he was scheduled to meet with the country's top leadership and discuss the international and regional agenda, as well as bilateral cooperation.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov previously commented on Africa's stance toward Ukraine, praising said stance and saying African countries take a balanced and objective position on the situation in Ukraine despite the discriminatory pressure stemming from Washington.

The top diplomat had previously announced that his country's relations with the countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as the Asia-Pacific region, West Asia, Asia, Africa, and Latin America were gaining a new impetus.

Anti-French sentiment is rising in France's former West African colonies, where security concerns and political instability, largely exacerbated by Paris' still ongoing intervention, are stoking frustration and swinging public opinion against the West.

French President Emmanuel Macron boldly criticized Tuesday Russia's "influence" in Africa, deeming it a "preoccupation" for the peoples of the continent.

Macron, the president of the country that colonized numerous countries in Africa for decades, said Russia's presence in Africa was based on "misinformation, militias, and... complicity with weakened powers."

He, from Yaounde, where he was speaking alongside his Cameroonian counterpart Paul Biya, called France "a friend of Africa", pledging that his country will "do everything so that... this format (of Russian influence) does not spread too much" because he does not believe it to be a good thing. "I especially think it's not good for the people.

Macron landed in Cameroon on Tuesday for a three-leg tour of Africa with the aim of strengthening political ties with its former colonies amid concerns over the food supply around the world in light of the Ukraine war.