Zakharova's comments came on the heels of reports that the UK Secret Intelligence Service, known as MI6, was preparing a sabotage unit of Ukraine's fighters.
A military-diplomatic source said earlier this week that MI6 was preparing a sabotage unit of 100 Ukrainian fighters to be sent to Africa to counter Russia-Africa cooperation.
The unit would be tasked with "sabotage of infrastructure in African countries, as well as the elimination of African leaders oriented towards cooperation with Russia," the source then said.
The forces are planned to be sent to Africa by "a chartered civilian ship from the [Ukrainian] port of Izmail to the [Sudanese] city of Omdurman during the second half of August" and will be headed by Lt. Col. Vitaliy Prashchuk, an officer of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, who has experience of "successful liquidations" and participated in MI6 operations in Zimbabwe.
"Given that MI6, headed by Richard Moore, has recently been openly bragging about its involvement in the planning and implementation of terrorist attacks by the Kyiv regime against our country, we note the intentions of the UK authorities to use Ukrainian puppets to carry out tasks in other regions of the world as well ... especially when London's what it seems to be an unshakable influence in the former colonies is threatened," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.
Zakharova recalled that "famous British empire builder Cecil Rhodes once said: 'The empire is a bread and butter question.'" The spokeswoman said the UK is still guided by that policy in Africa.
"It can be said that London continues to cling desperately to its colonial legacy and seeks with all its might to keep the countries of the continent dependent. Britons are unwilling to talk to them on an equal footing and consider it possible, as before, to interfere in their internal affairs," she said.
The Russian figure noted, "The regime of [Ukrainian President] Volodymyr Zelensky needs only money."
"In these schemes, Ukrainian soldiers apparently serve as a kind of payment by Kyiv for military aid from the West," she said.
"Judging by the already worked out scheme, the NATO-Ukrainian nexus artificially builds up the conflict potential in Africa. At the same time, Africans and Ukrainians will pay for the realization of the ambitions of the UK's neocolonialists," Zakharova said.