On Thursday, Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia told African nations’ leaders that he would gift them thousands of tons of grain despite Western sanctions which he said made it more difficult for Russia to export its grain.
At St Petersburg’s summit, Putin said Moscow was expecting a record grain this year and was ready to replace Ukrainian grain exports to African countries on commercial and support causes and honor what he said was Moscow’s vital role in global food security.
Putin added that Moscow will be ready to deliver Zimbabwe, Mali, Burkina Faso, Eritrea, and Central African Republic 25-50,000 tons of grain in the next 3-4 months. We will deliver these grains freely to consumers.
Putin restated, about Western criticism of Russia’s decision to quit the Black Sea grain deal, that Russia left the deal because none of the promises about facilitating the grain had been met.
Some Western leaders said Moscow’s withdrawal from the deal was irresponsible and caused poor countries to suffer.
But Putin answered the criticism that 70 percent of Ukraine’s grain exported appreciation to the now lapsed agreement had moved to high-income or above-average income nations and that poor nations like Sudan had been “screwed over” and acquired less than 3 percent of the shipments. Western sanctions had even stopped Moscow from providing free fertilizers to poor countries, Putin added.
About 49 of the continent’s 54 states are represented at the summit in the St Petersburg, which includes 4 by heads of government and 17 by their heads of state, Moscow said.
The topics in the summit includes ranging from security, nuclear energy, and AI to education and sport.
