Even after withdrawing from Black Sea Grain Deal (or the Ukraine Grain Export Deal), Russia has made a new offer to Africa. During the Russia-Africa Summit held in the last week of July 2023 in Saint Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin announced that his country would offer free grain to six poor African nations. The Russian strongman said that the Kremlin would continue to support the African countries, who backed Moscow, in spite of international isolation triggered by his military intervention in Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

In the third week of July, Moscow withdrew itself from the deal as per which Ukrainian grain exports should pass through the Black Sea to reach global markets, including Africa, in an attempt to ease pressure on food prices. Meanwhile, President Putin, while delivering a keynote address at the Summit, assured six African countries that they would receive grains from Russia. “In the coming months, we will be able to ensure free supplies of 25,000 to 50,000 tonnes of grain to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Central African Republic and Eritrea,” stressed the President.

A year ago, Russia allowed Ukraine to export around 33 million tonnes of grain to different parts of the globe from the Ukrainian ports in an attempt to stabilise global food prices and avert shortages. Ahead of the two-day Russia-Africa Summit, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken asked the African representatives attending the summit to demand answers from President Putin about the grain disruptions that propelled poorer nations towards the crisis. “They know exactly who’s to blame for this current situation. My expectation would be that Russia will hear this clearly from our African partners,” he told the leaders of Africa.

However, 17 African leaders, including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, did not expect that the Russian President was ready with a different plan. Apart from offering free grain to six poor African nations, President Putin blasted the Western countries for trying to prevent the African nations from taking part in the July 27-28 Summit. It may be noted that the First Russia-Africa Summit had taken place in Sochi in 2019.

Meanwhile, President Putin also discussed the Ukraine War with the African leaders. In a statement, the Kremlin said that the President expressed serious concern over the current political situation in Niger, where the soldiers detained President Mohamed Bazoum following a coup. Senior Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov informed the media that the Russian President “actively” discussed the Niger issue with African leaders on the sidelines of the Summit on July 28. According to Peskov, President Putin held separate meetings with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the sidelines of the Summit, and praised their joint energy projects.

Talking to reporters, Vsevolod Sviridov of the Centre for African Studies at HSE University has said that the Russia-Africa Summit is an opportunity for the African leaders to exchange views on various important continental and global issues with Moscow. Since the COVID-19 Pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, “the framework in which Russia and Africa interact has seriously changed. It is necessary to find common ground, to explain to each other positions on topical issues, for example, the grain deal“, Sviridov told AFP.

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Facebook

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Twitter

Boundless Ocean of Politics on Linkedin

Contact: kousdas@gmail.com

Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das