The Interview

Senegalese President Macky Sall, who is the current chair of the African Union, granted an interview to FRANCE 24 and RFI in Paris. He discussed his meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin last week in Sochi, which focused on the issue of grain supplies stuck in Ukrainian ports. Sall said he stressed to Putin that Africa is suffering from the war in Ukraine, as it already faces a shortage of grain and fertiliser. He warned of a possible "famine" on the continent if African farmers have insufficient fertiliser for their crops.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu reacted to the ongoing war in neighbouring Ukraine and the impact on his country. While admitting that "the degree of insecurity in the region is high", Popescu said he saw "no immediate or imminent threat of hostile military action directed against Moldova". He also weighed in on Moldova's EU ambitions, saying "we want to see Moldova in the European Union as a neutral state".

Since February 24, Ukraine has been putting up fierce resistance against Russia: on the ground, but also in the digital sphere. FRANCE 24 spoke with Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation, George Dubinskiy. He explained that Ukraine, which suffered several large-scale cyberattacks long before February 24, has been in a digital war against Moscow "since 2014" and is defending not only its land borders, but also digital ones.

Cypriot President Nikos Anastasiadis granted an interview to FRANCE 24 from the capital Nicosia. The northern third of the Republic of Cyprus has been under Turkish domination since 1974. Anastasiadis said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine uses the "exact same arguments that Turkey used to invade Cyprus". Asked about tensions with Turkey over hydrocarbons, he expressed hope that Ankara will not "will not attempt to do anything that will cause conflagration and risk peace in the region".

FRANCE 24 interviewed Kao Kim Hourn, Cambodia's minister delegate to Prime Minister Hun Sen, from the World Economic Forum in Davos. Hourn said he believes a full reconciliation with the US will occur. He affirmed that no Chinese military base has been established in Cambodia, and said that China does not dominate the country's economy despite owning most of its debt.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko expressed concern over the fate of the Ukrainian soldiers evacuated from the besieged Azovstal steel plant in the eastern city of Mariupol, saying that Russian President Vladimir Putin should "never" be trusted. Ukrainian authorities say the fighters have been taken to areas under the control of Russian forces or pro-Russian rebels and will be exchanged at a later date for Russian prisoners.

Eleven years after the start of the conflict in Syria, the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequences of the war in Ukraine have made the economic situation in the war-torn country even worse. FRANCE 24 interviewed Peter Maurer, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who recently met President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Maurer said Assad was "very aware of the international environment and the pressure it exerts on Syria" and that the Syrian leader was "grateful for the humanitarian work" but "crystal clear in his vision that things cannot go on this way".

Duwa Lashi La is the acting president of the National Unity Government (NUG) of Myanmar, a parallel government formed in opposition to the junta after the latter seized power in a February 2021 coup. Speaking to FRANCE 24 from a secret location in the country, Duwa Lashi La said that "within a year, we achieved significant success on the military and administrative fronts". He claimed that his People's Defence Force controls 15 percent of Myanmar and that combined with the ethnic resistance groups, the "collective resistance forces" control "almost 50 percent" of the country.

President Volodymyr Zelensky's top aid, Igor Zhovka, spoke to FRANCE 24 from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv. The deputy head of the presidential office assessed the situation on the two main front lines of the country, in Donbas and Mariupol, the latter of which he said was a city almost wiped out by Russian shelling but which he said will "never surrender". Zhovka hailed the reelection of President Emmanuel Macron but said he also expects more from France, including a more consistent supply of heavy weaponry.

In an interview with FRANCE 24, the EU's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that the bloc "will continue" providing military support to Ukraine, while taking care not to become a "belligerent" in the conflict. Speaking to Europe Editor Catherine Nicholson, Borrell added that he expects the EU to eventually impose a total ban on imports of Russian oil in a bid to reduce the Kremlin's ability to finance its war in Ukraine.