By Enyichukwu Enemanna
President of Russia, Vladimir Putin on Sunday said Moscow will give “African friends” its “total support” in dealing with nagging issues facing the continent, including extremism and food insecurity.
The Russian leader spoke at a conference taking place on Saturday and Sunday with African officials in Sochi in southwest Russia.
“Our country will continue to provide total support to our African friends in different sectors,” Putin said in a speech delivered by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to other foreign ministers and senior officials.
Putin said his country will assist Africa with “sustainable development, the struggle against terrorism and extremism, combating epidemics, food problems and the consequences of natural disasters”.
In 2019 and 2023, two Russia-Africa summits had taken place, aiming to strengthen economic relations between the continent and Moscow.
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The Foreign Minister said Russia’s ties with Africa have been growing “more and more”.
“We see progress on all axes” of co-operation, he said.
Since the outbreak of its war with Ukraine in 2022, Russia has been courting Africa, to show that Western sanctions aimed at isolating it from the rest of the world is not working.
The conference which comes one month after a summit of BRICS bloc in Russia is seen as another chance for Russia to promote its vision of a “multipolar world”.
During the summit, 13 more new nations were admitted into the bloc which included three African countries.
Russia was a major player in Africa in Soviet times and has been growing in influence on the continent in recent years.
Its Wagner mercenaries are stationed in some African countries, including Burkina Faso and CAR where they are assisting to curb jihadist movement.
South Africa had abstained from UN resolutions condemning Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. It instead called for an end to the conflict and spearheaded an African-backed “peace mission” to end the crisis between both countries.
