Russian-African summit in St. Petersburg: Amid Russia's withdrawal from grain deal, Putin promises African leaders free grain
Meanwhile, the Russian-African summit takes place in St Petersburg. The meeting comes amid Russia's withdrawal from the grain deal, thanks to which African countries have continued to receive food from Ukraine for almost a year. In return, Vladimir Putin has promised six African countries free grain and announced that Russia has cancelled Africa's $23bn debt. Vladimir Putin is using the St Petersburg summit to try to boost Russia's ties with Africa, promising increased trade and investment in the region and to make up for the loss of relations with Western countries.
African leaders have pressed Vladimir Putin to consider their peace plan to end the war in Ukraine and renew the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports that Moscow abandoned last week.
"I make a strong call for an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. African wisdom says that it is the grass that is most affected by elephant confrontation. This is also the case with wheat, which is part of the diet of most African countries. These countries face a shortage that has a real impact on the daily lives of their populations. The African initiative for a proper conflict resolution should neither be overlooked nor underestimated," stressed Congo's President Denis Sassou-Nguesso.
"On this issue - food security - it is important to find rapid solutions to ensure food supplies at prices that could help Africa overcome this crisis", said Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.
"We ask the UN members, who are on the other side, to react realistically to this situation and to the needs of each side to reach a quick agreement before the situation worsens, to avoid conflict," said Mohamed al-Menfi, chairman of Lebanon's presidential council.
While not directly criticising Russia, African leaders are concerned about the consequences of the war, especially for food prices. In this context, Vladimir Putin gave assurances that Russia will remain a responsible supplier despite sanctions.
"We are increasing the supply of agricultural products to Africa. Thus, in 2022, 11.5 million tons of grain were delivered to African countries. And in the first six months of this year we shipped almost 10 million tonnes. We will continue to support the countries and regions that need it most. In the next 3-4 months we will deliver 25-50 thousand tons free of charge to six African countries," the Kremlin leader promised.
Vladimir Putin also said Moscow is carefully studying the peace plan proposed by Africa. This, after the Kremlin leader was rather sceptical last month when a group of African presidents presented it to him.
