Putin pledges to supply Africa with grain, promotes joint fight against ‘neocolonialism’ during Russia-Africa summit.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says his country and the African leaders attending a summit in St Petersburg have agreed to promote a multipolar world order and fight “neocolonialism” as he offered debt write-offs and grain to woo allies.
“Russia’s attention to Africa is steadily growing,” Putin said on Friday at the end of the two-day summit. The meeting was seen as a test of Moscow’s support in Africa, where Russia retains backing despite international isolation sparked by its war in Ukraine.
On Thursday, the Russian leader promised free grain to six African nations and assured them that Moscow was trying to avert a global food crisis nearly a week after withdrawing from an agreement that allowed Ukraine, one of the world’s largest grain producers, to export its farm products across the Black Sea.
The Russian leader also mentioned the “joint determination to counter neocolonialism, the practice of applying illegitimate sanctions and attempts to undermine traditional moral values”.
Representatives of 49 countries, including 17 heads of state, attended the summit in the Russian city.
Participants signed a joint declaration that called for “the establishment of a more just, balanced and stable multipolar world order, firmly opposing all types of international confrontation in the African continent”.
‘New initiative towards Africa’
Al Jazeera’s Ali Hashem, reporting from St Petersburg, said the declaration is Russia’s “new initiative towards Africa”.
“There is a Russian plan for Africa,” he said, adding that there are “very ambitious initiatives” from Putin.
“Russia wants to gain Africa allies. This is why it’s initiating more and more towards Africa – to the extent that President Putin wants to … revive the Soviet era investments in Africa,” he said.
According to Hashem, Russia plans on building plants and factories and increasing diplomatic missions on the continent.
Putin is also promising to maintain grain supplies to Africa after he withdrew from the Black Sea grain deal. He is blaming the West for higher food prices and inflation and said the global economic system is going through significant change.
Africa is the “new centre of power. Its political and economic role is growing exponentially. … Everyone will have to take this reality into account,” he said.
For several years, the Kremlin has openly engaged in diplomatic and economic offensives on the continent and offered security services in the form of the Wagner mercenary army to African governments fending off armed group.
But in recent months, Russia has had to speed up its quest for alternatives to European partners.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has toured Africa twice since January, seeking to draw it into Moscow’s camp and presenting Russia as a bulwark against Western “imperialism” and “neocolonialism”.
