Washington, Jul 12 (IANS): EU's top diplomat Josep Borell has admitted there is a high level of support for Russian President Vladimir Putin among African nations and people, as he stressed the need to augment information warfare capabilities to win the battle for perception.

"In Africa, people support Putin. They say Putin saved Donbass," Borrell, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said at the NATO Public Forum on Thursday, RT reported.

His remarks came amid closer ties between Russia and various African nations in several fields, including security. Some West African nations have ended their counter-terrorism security agreements with Western nations and turned to Russia for assistance.

He called for a new approach to defence, focusing on information warfare rather than traditional military tactics.

“We need a different army. We need people watching the network and people explaining what is going on, reprogramming the listeners, giving them the correct information, in order to prevent intervention in electoral processes," he maintained.

Borrell, who was in Washington to participate in NATO's 75th anniversary summit, contended that it was important to focus on the "information battle", conducted not on a physical battlefield but within the people’s minds.

"We don’t need to drop bombs or deploy tanks; we need to disseminate news and occupy cyberspace. The EU is very active in this area," he claimed.