Putin tries to bolster African support

July 27, 2023

admin Published: July 27, 2023 | Updated: July 27, 2023 3 min read

By Radina Gigova, Anna Chernova and Sophie Tanno, CNN

(CNN) — A summit between Russian President Vladimir Putin and African leaders began in St. Petersburg on Thursday, with a far lower turnout than previous years.

Just 17 heads of African states are attending this year, the Kremlin has confirmed, less than half of the 43 heads of state that attended the 2019 conference.

In the run-up to the event, the Kremlin fumed over the poor turnout, and accused the United States and its Western allies of putting “unprecedented pressure” on African countries in an attempt to derail the summit.

Among those absent is Kenyan President William Ruto, whose government has been critical of Russia’s recent decision to withdraw from the Black Sea grain deal, describing the move as a “stab in the back of global food security prices.”

Moscow made the decision to withdraw from the deal – which ensured the safe export of Ukrainian grain to the rest of the world – on July 17, again sparking fears over global food supplies, particularly in parts of Africa that are reliant on exports from Russia and Ukraine.

And some African politicians – further than simply not attending the summit – have expressed grave concerns about Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine.

“I don’t think that this moment in time is a good time for summits in Russia. Because Russia is involved in a war, a conflict,” said Raila Odinga, the Kenyan opposition leader.

“Africa needs to take a very firm stance on this issue. It’s a question of right and wrong. Therefore, my view is that we cannot be neutral in the place of an aggression. You must take a stand one way or another,” Odinga said.

Putin makes free grain pledge

The African states being represented at the St. Petersburg summit will be keen to sway Russia into rejoining the grain deal, and Putin has courted African leaders for years in a deliberate effort to broaden Moscow’s global influence. At the last summit in 2019, Russia announced arms deals worth billions of dollars for the continent, along with a plan to double its trade volume with the region.

Russia’s Wagner mercenaries have also been deployed in some African states. A CNN investigation from 2022 showed how an elaborate Russian scheme was plundering Sudan’s riches in a bid to fortify Russia against Western sanctions and to buttress Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.

Putin is working against the backdrop of the Ukraine war, which has driven the country into diplomatic isolation and prompted heavy sanctions from the West. He enjoys more support from some African nations, however, some of whom are yet to condemn the invasion.

On Thursday, the Russian president told the delegation of African leaders that the continent will become one of Moscow’s key partners “in a new multipolar world.”

“Russia is still a reliable supplier of food to Africa,” Putin said, adding he would send grain free of charge to six African nations in the next few months.

He repeated his complaints about the grain deal, saying promises to Russia had not been met, and called the West “hypocritical”, arguing it was blaming Russia for food insecurity but at the same time hampering exports through sanctions.

Next month South Africa will host a BRICS economic bloc summit in Johannesburg. Putin, however, will not be present at that event and will be represented instead by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said Putin’s absence from the BRICS summit was decided “by mutual agreement.” In March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova over alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

South Africa is bound by the Rome statute, the treaty that governs the ICC, and is obligated to arrest individuals indicted by The Hague court.