{"id":31433,"date":"2023-07-28T06:39:53","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T06:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/?p=31433"},"modified":"2023-07-28T06:35:34","modified_gmt":"2023-07-28T06:35:34","slug":"putin-hosts-african-leaders-in-russia-after-grain-deal-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/putin-hosts-african-leaders-in-russia-after-grain-deal-exit","title":{"rendered":"Putin hosts African leaders in Russia after grain deal exit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. <\/strong><\/span><b>The Russian president will on Thursday host leaders of African countries for a summit in his native Saint Petersburg, as the continent braces for the consequences of Moscow&#8217;s withdrawal from the Ukraine grain export deal.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Isolated on the international scene since launching a full-scale military intervention in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin still has support in several African countries.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is important that in recent years our cooperation with Africa has reached a new level. We intend to further develop it,&#8221; Putin said in a welcome letter to participants of the summit.<\/p>\n<p>Seventeen African leaders including South African President Cyril Ramaphosa are expected at the Russia-Africa summit set to take place on Thursday and Friday.<\/p>\n<p>The Kremlin has accused Western countries of trying to prevent African states from participating in the summit.<\/p>\n<p>The summit is the second of its kind after an inaugural one held in 2019 in Sochi, southern Russia.<\/p>\n<p>Putin is expected to conduct bilateral talks with his counterparts on the sidelines and will deliver an address at the plenary session.<\/p>\n<p>In the speech he will discuss his vision of Russia-Africa ties and the &#8220;formation of a new world order&#8221;, according to Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov.<\/p>\n<p>The end of a deal that has allowed Ukrainian grain exports through the Black Sea to global markets, including Africa, is expected to dominate the agenda.<\/p>\n<p>Over a year, the deal allowed around 33 million tonnes of grain to leave Ukrainian ports, helping to stabilise global food prices and avert shortages.<\/p>\n<p>US Secretary of State Antony Blinken pressed African leaders attending the summit to demand answers about the grain disruptions that have propelled poorer nations towards crisis.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;They know exactly who&#8217;s to blame for this current situation,&#8221; Blinken said of the leaders.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;My expectation would be that Russia will hear this clearly from our African partners,&#8221; he said Thursday during a visit to New Zealand.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; &#8216;Find common ground&#8217; &#8211;<\/p>\n<p>Moscow has sought to reassure African partners, saying it understands their &#8220;concern&#8221; on the issue and is ready to export grain for free to African countries that need it.<\/p>\n<p>Putin will also discuss Ukraine during a working lunch with a group of African heads of state on Friday, the Kremlin has said.<\/p>\n<p>The summit will be an opportunity to exchange views on key issues, according to Vsevolod Sviridov of the Centre for African Studies at HSE University.<\/p>\n<p>Since the coronavirus pandemic and the launch of the military offensive in Ukraine, &#8220;the framework in which Russia and Africa interact has seriously changed&#8221;, Sviridov told AFP.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is necessary to find common ground, to explain to each other positions on topical issues, for example, the grain deal,&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>Putin has already held talks Wednesday with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, praising their joint energy projects.<\/p>\n<p>Representatives of African states continued to arrive in the former imperial capital ahead of the summit, including delegations from Mozambique and Libya, Russian state news agency TASS said Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>Since the start of the Ukraine offensive, Russia has sought to strengthen diplomatic and security ties with Africa.<\/p>\n<p>Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has been on two tours of the continent so far this year, trying to win over leaders to Moscow&#8217;s side by emphasising Russia&#8217;s stand against Western &#8220;imperialism&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>Russia&#8217;s Wagner mercenary group has been a major player in the security sphere in Africa but its failed mutiny against Russia&#8217;s military leadership last month has cast doubt on the future of the group&#8217;s operations on the continent.<\/p>\n<p>The summit in Saint Petersburg comes a month ahead of a summit of leaders of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) due to take place in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa has said that Putin, who is the subject of an international arrest warrant for his actions in Ukraine, will not be attending in person.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\">Botswana<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Botswana. The Russian president will on Thursday host leaders of African countries for a summit in his native Saint Petersburg, as the continent braces for the consequences of Moscow&#8217;s withdrawal from the Ukraine grain export deal. Isolated on the international scene since launching a full-scale military intervention in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin still has [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":31432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12],"tags":[233,237,234],"class_list":["post-31433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-botswana","tag-botswana"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Putin hosts African leaders in Russia after grain deal exit - Botswana<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Russian president will on Thursday host leaders of African countries for a summit in his native Saint Petersburg, ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/putin-hosts-african-leaders-in-russia-after-grain-deal-exit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Putin hosts African leaders in Russia after grain deal exit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Russian president will on Thursday host leaders of African countries for a summit in his native Saint Petersburg, ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/putin-hosts-african-leaders-in-russia-after-grain-deal-exit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Botswana\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-07-28T06:39:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1690509739.750423.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/putin-hosts-african-leaders-in-russia-after-grain-deal-exit#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/putin-hosts-african-leaders-in-russia-after-grain-deal-exit\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Putin hosts African leaders in Russia after grain deal exit\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-07-28T06:39:53+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/putin-hosts-african-leaders-in-russia-after-grain-deal-exit\"},\"wordCount\":669,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/putin-hosts-african-leaders-in-russia-after-grain-deal-exit#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/botswana\/sites\/38\/2023\/07\/sm_1690509739.750423.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Botswana\",\"Botswana\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/putin-hosts-african-leaders-in-russia-after-grain-deal-exit#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/putin-hosts-african-leaders-in-russia-after-grain-deal-exit\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/botswana\/all-news\/putin-hosts-african-leaders-in-russia-after-grain-deal-exit\",\"name\":\"Putin hosts African leaders in Russia after grain deal exit - 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