St. Petersburg: On Wednesday, a delegation of African leaders arrived in Russia for a summit with President Vladimir Putin as the Kremlin looks for new allies in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine.
The two-day summit, which begins Thursday in St. Petersburg, has been promoted by Putin as a significant occasion that will strengthen ties with a continent of 1.3 billion people that is becoming more assertive on the international stage.
Putin told Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed during a one-on-one meeting on Wednesday that Russia would more than triple the number of Ethiopian students it hosts and would pay for their educational expenses.
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After taking the unusual step of suspending food aid earlier this year as a result of the discovery of widespread aid theft, the US and the World Food Programme have put pressure on Ethiopia's government. They advocate for changes that entail the government releasing its grip on aid distribution. Watchdogs claim that hunger is increasing in places like the Tigray region, which is healing from a two-year conflict.
Putin will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi later in the day.
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The 54 member states of Africa make up the largest voting bloc at the UN, and they have disagreed more bitterly than any other region on resolutions condemning Russian actions in Ukraine.
the second summit between Russia and Africa since 2019. Due to what the Kremlin referred to as crude Western pressure to dissuade African nations from participating, the number of heads of state who attended decreased from 43 then to 17 now.
Dmitry Peskov, the spokeswoman for the Kremlin, condemned "unmasked brazen interference by the US, France and other states through their diplomatic missions in African countries, and attempts to put pressure on the leadership of these countries to prevent their active participation in the forum."
In a conference call with reporters, Peskov said, "It's absolutely outrageous, but it will in no way prevent the success of the summit."
At the same time, Putin has repeatedly stated that now that the Black Sea Agreement has been terminated, Russia will provide free grain to low-income African nations.
In a statement released on Monday, Putin claimed that Russia had sent nearly 10 million tonnes of grain to Africa in the first half of the year. "I want to give assurances that our country is capable of replacing the Ukrainian grain both on a commercial and free-of-charge basis," he said.
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Along with grain, another topic that will probably be on the agenda is what will happen to Yevgeny Prigozhin's Wagner military company in Russia after its recent, brief uprising against the Kremlin. For nations like Sudan, Mali, and others that have contracts with the mercenary group in exchange for natural resources like gold, Wagner's future will be a pressing concern. The business will carry on operating in Africa, according to Prigozhin and Russian officials.
There will also be discussion of a peace plan for Ukraine that African leaders have attempted to advance. According to a statement from the South African presidency on Wednesday, "the summit background will also offer an opportunity for African heads of state who are members of the African Leaders Peace Mission to continue discussions with President Putin on the confidence-building measures that will create favourable conditions for a path to peace between Russia and Ukraine."