The second Russia-Africa Summit and Russia-Africa Economic and
Humanitarian Forum will take place in St. Petersburg on July 27-28,
with President Putin expected to meet with the leaders and
representatives of 49 different African countries which have
confirmed plans to take part.
Russia will be offering African countries an alternative to the
defunct Black Sea Grain Deal to ensure the continents continued
food security, Russian Foreign Ministry ambassador-at-large Oleg
Ozerov has said.
Of course, it will be not only a discussion as such, but the
discussion with solutions for African nations so that they leave
St. Petersburg with clear understanding how these issues will be
resolved, the Russian diplomat, who heads the Russia-Africa
Partnership Forum, told Sputnik.
Russia has already provided assistance to some African countries
earlier, including gratis fertilizer shipments to countries
including Malawi and Kenya, Ozerov added.
Moscow suspended its participation in the Black Sea grain deal
last week, citing Western countries failure to facilitate Russian
food and fertilizer exports, and pointing out that just 3 percent
of the grain shipped out of Ukraine under the agreement actually
went to countries in need in Africa and Asia, with the vast
majority instead ending up in Europe and Turkiye.
Failure to Bully Africa Into Submission
Western powers have failed to bully African countries into
submission and to persuade them not to attend the upcoming summit
in St. Petersburg, Ozerov said.
Pressure is being exerted. It is of a permanent character. This
pressure was exerted through various channels through the
diplomatic corps of Western nations, which literally on a daily
basis are trying to dissuade representatives of African states from
traveling to Russia, and which demand that African countries firmly
pick a camp, Ozerov said.
The Wests demands look very strange, the diplomat said, as
theyre coming from those countries which publicly proclaim
democracy and freedom of choice, but in practice demand submission
to their dictates.
There are also other forms of pressure besides politics and
diplomacy, the ambassador-at-large said, including economic and
financial coercion, with political conditions put in place for the
provision of economic assistance to a number of states both through
the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, where the
United States uses its dominant position to put forward political
conditions.
Similar conditionalities are being set up by the European Union,
when the allocation of...
