In an unlikely turn of events, the Russian Embassy in Nairobi responded to Homa Bay Central MP, Opondo Kaluma’s tweet that called on African countries to attain 'real freedom' from the West.
"When will Africa attain real independence from the West?" Opondo wondered, eliciting mixed reactions from both Kenyans and foreign citizens.
Russia seized the moment to stage a Twitter battle against the West, calling on African countries to cut ties with their rivals.
“It’s time for the West to accept that dark times of colonialism ended a long time ago,” wrote Russian Embassy in Kenya.
The Embassy added that “neocolonialism is totally unacceptable!”
The tweet by Russian Embassy triggered a barrage of response from Kenyans and foreigners who expressed their love and loathing of Russia in equal measure.
"On the day Africa and African governments will get it right politically to fix our own kind of system of governance devoid of total dependency on the so-called western democracy” - which has proved to be gradually failing even in their own countries, perhaps we could make progress," Amos Ng'ongo, a financial advisor, responded.
"When elected leaders stop going for benchmarking, medical and trips in their countries and start focusing on the issues at Home like making things better," one Dennis Otieno added.
Another tweep argued that neocolonialism would only end when elected leaders craft better development policies.
"And it is not only the West that's a problem... China and its "cheap loans" may actually be worse," the comment claimed.
Others called on President William Ruto to set precedence for African heads of state.
Russia's response to Kaluma comes against the backdrop of the country's invasion of Ukraine.
Thousand of casualties comprising both soldiers and civilians on both sides were reported, causing Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II.
It is estimated that some 8 million people have so far been displaced within Ukraine, while over 7 million have fled the country.
The invasion also caused global food shortages in countries like Kenya and other African nations.
Led by the United States of America, several European countries imposed economically damaging sanctions against Russia.
