African leaders arrive in Russia for summit as Kremlin seeks allies amid fighting in Ukraine
abcnews.go.comSome African leaders have arrived in Russia for a summit with President Vladimir Putin as the Kremlin seeks more allies amid the fighting in Ukraine
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia — Some African leaders arrived in Russia for a summit with President Vladimir Putin as he seeks allies amid the fighting in Ukraine, while the Kremlin accused Western powers of “outrageous” efforts to pressure other African heads of state not to attend.
Putin has billed the two-day summit that opens Thursday in St. Petersburg as a major event that would help bolster ties with a continent of 1.3 billion people that is increasingly assertive on the global stage.
“Today, Africa is asserting itself more and more confidently as one of the poles of the emerging multipolar world,” Putin said in a statement released by the Kremlin. “The forum will provide a further boost to our political and humanitarian partnership for many years to come.”
On Wednesday, Putin held one-on-one talks with Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and said Russia will more than triple the number of Ethiopian students it hosts and cover their education costs.
Ethiopia’s government has been under pressure from the U.S. and the World Food Program after they made the extraordinary decision to suspend food aid to the country earlier this year following the discovery of massive theft of aid. They seek reforms that involve the government giving up controls over aid distribution. Meanwhile, watchdogs say hunger is rising in areas like the Tigray region that is recovering from two years of conflict.
Later in the day, Putin also met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi, hailing their growing bilateral trade that accounts for about one third of Russia's trade with Africa.
El-Sissi
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