Russia’s two-day economic and cultural summit in St. Petersburg last week included the heads of state of 17 African nations and a cameo by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who claimed to have a hand in a coup contemporaneously underway in Africa.
This was the second Russia-Africa summit, with the first one occurring in 2019. At that inaugural event, the heads of state of 43 African nations attended.
Though some nations sent high-level officials other than their heads of state to last week’s summit, Russia blamed Western political pressure for preventing more heads of state from attending, the Associated Press reported.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov condemned the “unconcealed brazen interference by the U.S., France and other states through their diplomatic missions in African countries, and attempts to put pressure on the leadership of these countries in order to prevent their active participation in the forum,” according to AP.
The summit arrives at a critical time for Russia as it works to bring more of the international community to its side following its invasion of Ukraine. The 54 nations that are in Africa make up the single biggest continent of votes, but they have been more divided than any other region of the world when it comes to UN General Assembly resolutions condemning Russia’s actions in Ukraine, as reported by AP.
At the summit, which took place July 27-28, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to supply between 25,000 to 50,000 tons each of free grain to at least six of the poorer African countries — Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somali, the Central African Republic, and Eritrea — to replace the Ukrainian grain lost when Russia pulled out of the Black Sea grain deal, reported The New York Times.
Putin also addressed Africa’s debt burden, saying that Russia would write off $90 million owed to Russia and offering some military assistance and equipment at no cost, per AP.
A group of African leaders presented Putin with a proposal for peace with Ukraine, which the Russian leader said he would thoroughly review. Putin suggested that the African leaders try again to speak with Ukraine, which refuses to engage in diplomacy with Russia until its much larger neighbor pulls its troops out of Ukraine, according to AP.
“I believe it’s necessary to also talk to the other side, although we are grateful to our African friends for their attention to the issue,” said Putin, per AP.
On the cultural front, Putin called for Russian language schools to be established in African countries to build a “foundation for further mutually beneficial and equal cooperation,” according to Russian news outlet RT.
Putin touted Africa’s increasing importance in a “multipolar world order,” adding, “the era of hegemony of one or several countries is receding into the past, albeit not without resistance on the part of those who got used to their own uniqueness and monopoly in global affairs,” AP reported.
Putin claimed that “Russia and Africa are united by an innate desire to defend true sovereignty and the right to their own distinctive path of development in the political, economic, social, cultural and other spheres,” according to AP.
While the president of the most populous African nation, Nigeria, did not attend the summit, the country was represented by its vice president, Kashim Shettima, who met with Putin and promised closer ties between the two countries, per Nigerian news outlet Vanguard.
The summit apparently had a surprise attendee, as enigmatic Wagner private military group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who led a short-lived mutiny against the Russian military brass in June, was present. A picture of Prigozhin shaking hands with Ambassador Freddy Mapouka of the Central African Republic circulated on the internet, and BBC Verify confirmed it was taken in St. Petersburg during the summit.
The Central African Republic hosts hundreds of Wagner mercenaries, the BBC reported.
As Prigozhin shook hands with African dignitaries in St. Petersburg, back in Africa, a military coup that toppled the Western-allied government of Niger on Wednesday had the Wagner boss’s approval as well as his implied claim to have had a hand in the overthrow, per Politico.
Prigozhin posted a statement to Telegram on Thursday that, translated by Politico, read, “What happened is the struggle of the people of Niger against the colonialists. This is actually gaining independence and getting rid of the colonialists.”
“This shows the effectiveness of Wagner,” Prigozhin continued. “A thousand Wagner fighters are able to restore order and destroy terrorists, preventing them from harming the civilian population of states.”
