Putin promises grain aid to Africa despite withdrawing from Ukraine deal

Vladimir Putin has told African leaders that Russia will ship 50,000 tonnes of grain aid to six countries in the continent despite withdrawing from a deal with Ukraine.

Speaking at a summit in St Petersburg on Thursday, attended by many of Africa’s heads of state, the Russian president said he was committed to “averting a global food crisis”.

Earlier this month, Russia declined to renew the agreement with Ukraine to reopen Black Sea Ports, which had been blocked by fighting in its illegal invasion of the country, to ensure safe passage of ships. The Kremlin said in withdrawing that its own exports were being held up.

Both Russia and Ukraine are major grain suppliers to Africa and Mr Putin has pledged to deliver the aid to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Eritrea and the Central African Republic in the next three to four months.

“Our country will continue supporting needy states and regions, in particular, with its humanitarian deliveries,” Mr Putin said.

“We seek to actively participate in building a fairer system of distribution of resources. We are taking maximum efforts to avert a global food crisis.

“I have already said that our country can replace Ukrainian grain, both on a commercial basis and as grant aid to the neediest African countries, more so since we expect another record harvest this year.”

Promising Russian food exports to Africa is key to Mr Putin’s stated goal of using the summit to bolster ties with a continent of 1.3 billion people that is increasingly assertive on the global stage.

Mr Putin also announced other moves to deepen relations with Africa, including increased enrolment of African students in Russian universities. He will also open Russian state news media bureaus in many African countries and proposed “common information space in Russia and Africa, within which objective, unbiased information about events taking place in the world will be broadcast to Russian and African audiences”.

Africa’s 54 nations make up the largest voting bloc at the United Nations and have been more divided than any other region on General Assembly resolutions criticising Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

However, this was the second Russia-Africa summit since 2019 and saw the number of heads of state in attendance plummet from 43 to 17. The Kremlin blamed the number of empty seats on “crude Western pressure to discourage African nations from taking part”.

Mr Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov, said that while only 17 heads of state are attending the summit, 32 other African countries are represented by senior officials or ambassadors.

Elsewhere, Mr Putin has admitted that Ukrainian attacks have intensified in recent days, as Kyiv ramps up the counteroffensive against Russian troops.

The president told the African summit that attacks by Ukrainian forces have “intensified significantly”, primarily in the Zaporizhzhia region.

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Additional reporting by AP