Russian President, Vladimir Putin, has promised African leaders tens of thousands of tonnes of free grains within months.
Speaking at the 2023 Russian-African summit in St. Petersburg, Putin said Russia was expecting a record grain harvest this year and was ready to replace Ukrainian grain exports to Africa on both a commercial and aid basis and honour what he said was Moscow’s critical role in global food security.
“We will be ready to provide Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Central African Republic and Eritrea with 25,000 to 50,000 tonnes of free grain each in the next three to four months.
“We will also provide free delivery of these products to consumers.”
Responding to Western criticism of Russia’s decision to quit the Black Sea grain deal last week, Putin reiterated that Moscow left because none of the promises it was given about facilitating its own grain and fertiliser exports had been met.
According to some opinions in the West, Russia’s exit from the grains deal will result in the suffering of millions of people in poor countries but the Russian President told the summit that Western sanctions, imposed over Russia’s war in Ukraine which it calls a “special military operation”, had prevented Russia from supplying free fertilisers to poor nations.
“A paradoxical picture is emerging. On the one hand, Western countries are obstructing supplies of our grain and fertilisers [via sanctions], while on the other they hypocritically blame us for the current crisis on the world food market,” Putin said.
Moscow’s first Russia-Africa summit was held in 2019 as part of a concerted push for influence and business on the African continent.
Russia says 49 of the continent’s 54 states are represented at the St. Petersburg summit.
The summit program includes a series of panel discussions on security, nuclear energy, artificial intelligence, education and sport among other issues.
Source: Reuters