- Africans call on Putin to return to Black Sea grain deal
- African leaders say the war in Ukraine directly affects them
- Kremlin leader defends Russian stance, blames Ukraine and West
- Second day of the summit in St Petersburg
African leaders pressed Russian President Vladimir Putin to move ahead with their plan to end the Ukraine conflict and to renew a deal crucial to Africa on the safe wartime export of Ukrainian grain, which Moscow tore up last week.
While not directly critical of Russia, their interventions on the second day of a summit were more concerted and forceful than those that African countries have voiced until now. They served as reminders of the depth of African concern at the consequences of the war, especially rising food prices.
The news agency reported in June that the African plan floats a series of possible steps to defuse the conflict, including a Russian troop pull-back, removal of Russian tactical nuclear weapons from Belarus, suspension of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant against Putin, and sanctions relief.
Putin gave it a cool reception when African leaders presented it to him last month. In public remarks, he restated in similar terms his argument that Ukraine and the West, not Russia, were responsible for the conflict.
Congo Republic President said the initiative “deserves the closest attention”, calling “urgently” for peace. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told Putin: “We feel that we have a right to call for peace – the ongoing conflict also negatively affects us.”
He said it was Kyiv that was refusing to negotiate under a decree passed shortly after he claimed last September to have annexed four Ukrainian regions that Russia partly controls, adding: “The ball is entirely in their court.” But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected the idea of a ceasefire now that would leave Russia in control of nearly a fifth of his country and give its forces time to regroup after 17 grinding months of war.
At the summit, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged Russia to revive the Black Sea grain deal which, until Moscow refused to renew it last week, had granted Ukraine a “safe corridor” to export grain from its seaports despite the conflict. Egypt is a big buyer of grain via the Black Sea route, and Sisi told the summit it was “essential to reach an agreement” on reviving the deal.
Putin responded by arguing, as he has in the past, that rising world food prices were a consequence of Western policy mistakes long predating the Ukraine war. He has repeatedly said Russia quit the agreement because the deal was not getting grain to the poorest countries and the West was not keeping its side of the bargain.
Putin promised to deliver up to 300,000 tons of free Russian grain – which U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called a “handful of donations”, among six of the countries attending the summit. The leaders of Mali and the Central African Republic, whose governments have relied heavily on the services of Russia’s Wagner mercenary group, both expressed gratitude to Putin.
(With inputs from agencies)
