The Russia-Africa Summit, a “Putin public relations show” (Dpa)

2023-07-31 18:18:18

Moscow exports to Africa “weapons, fake news and mercenaries, often with fatal consequences”, warns the German minister.

German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze called the second Russia-Africa Summit “a public relations show for (Vladimir, editor’s note) Putin,” the Russian president. Schulze was speaking in a statement given to the newspapers of the German media group “Funke”.

At the summit held on July 27 in Saint Petersburg (Russia), Putin promised to provide up to 50,000 tons of cereals free of charge to six African countries (Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, CAR and Eritrea), and this, “in the next three or four months”. “Whoever promises cheap Russian wheat to African countries and at the same time bombs Ukrainian grain ports does not want to fight hunger, but only to create new dependencies,” added the German minister.

“Russia is anti-colonial only in rhetoric” and “its actions in Africa are aimed at dependency and exploitation”, she warned. Moscow exports “weapons, fake news and mercenaries, often with fatal consequences. In terms of development policy, Russia has little to offer African countries,” she said. Russia has withdrawn from the Black Sea Initiative, an agreement which notably allowed Ukraine to export its cereals by sea and thus help maintain the stability of world food prices, according to the UN .

The Initiative was signed in July 2022 in Istanbul by Ukraine and Russia, under the aegis of Türkiye and the United Nations. It has notably enabled the export of cereals from Ukrainian ports and reduced food prices by more than 23 percent since March 2022, at a time when the production and availability of these foodstuffs are disrupted by conflicts, the climate change and energy prices, according to the UN.

Expired on July 17, this initiative has already been extended several times, the last time being on May 17. Russia’s withdrawal from the agreement “will deal a heavy blow to people in need all over the world,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres.

Dpa (German Press Agency), Africa Service