What to expect from the Russia-Africa summit?

Russian President Vladimir Putin's showcase Russia Africa's Summit welcomes delegations from across the continent on Thursday it's an event set against the backdrop of Russia withdrawing from the Black Sea agreement the deal had allowed Ukraine to ship grain out of its Southern ports despite a 17-month-old conflict as such grain will be in focus in Saint Petersburg African leaders are expected to seek Assurance from Putin on grain supplies Chicago wheat Futures a benchmark of global prices have risen around 20 percent since Russia ended the deal on July 17th they are now at their highest level since February though well below their peaks of 2022 in a pre-summit article on the Kremlin website Putin writes that the Black Sea deal had been shamelessly exploited by U.S and European trading firms and that less than three percent of the grain shipped had reached the poorest countries they acted like a vacuum cleaner wiping out all provisions on the global food market to their own Advantage abusing their Monopoly and putting developing countries at a disadvantage Putin also says Russia is expecting a record Harvest this year he says it's ready to fill the gap for African countries by supplying grain commercially and for free behind the scenes some countries are expected to seek more information about the future of the Wagner mercenary group that's after it staged a short-lived Mutiny in Russia last month it provides Security Muscle for governments in the Central African Republic and Mali Russia says there will also be further discussion of an African Peace Initiative for the Ukraine conflict however Putin's response when presented with the proposal last month was to repeat a familiar list of accusations against Ukraine in the west Putin is prevented from traveling to many countries because of an arrest warrant from the international criminal court that makes the Russia Africa Summit an opportunity for him to hold Center Stage before leaders from an entire continent Russia says 49 African delegations are taking part however that includes just 17 heads of state sharply down from the 45 who attended the last event in 2019. Russia accuses the west of trying to sabotage the event by dissuading leaders from attending African governments have mostly remained neutral on the war in Ukraine as they balance their own relationships with both Russia and the West some have had strong ties with Moscow since the Cold War many are sympathetic to Putin's idea of countering U.S dominance in a new multi-polar world order however most have closer economic links with the US and Europe

Channel: Reuters

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Length: 2min 52sec (172 seconds)

Published: Thu Jul 27 2023