African leaders call on Putin to return to grain deal and make peace with Ukraine

African leaders on Friday pressured the Russian president to return to the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain that Moscow broke last week.. They also asked him to take into account their joint initiative to make peace with Ukraine.. African leaders attending the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg avoided directly criticizing Moscow, but their interventions on the second day of a summit served as an indication of deep African concern about the consequences of the war in the countries in development, especially with regard to food prices due to the drop in supply.

Until Moscow refused to renew it last week, the Black Sea grain deal had allowed Ukraine to export grain from its seaports despite the war.. Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al Sisi urged Russia to return to that commitment.. Egypt is a key buyer of grain exported via the Black Sea route.. Al Sisi noted that it was “essential to reach an agreement” to revive the deal.

Putin responded by pulling from the familiar argument: saying that the increase in world food prices is the result of mistakes in Western policy that go back long before the war.

Since withdrawing from the agreement, Russia has repeatedly bombarded Ukraine's ports and grain warehouses.. Moscow has once again been accused by the West of using food as a weapon of war, and concern has spread in many southern countries because world cereal prices have risen again.

On Thursday, Russia promised to deliver free grain to six of the countries attending the summit.. “It's basically propaganda, to show that you care about their needs and give credibility to their reasons for getting out of the grain deal,” says Ivan U.. Klyszcz, Researcher at the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute, in an interview with EL MUNDO.

This specialist in Russian foreign policy has spread the term “messianic multipolarity” to talk about the message that Moscow is trying to convey to the so-called 'global south': “It is that we live in an unfair world where the West tries to keep the poor poor, and Russia tries to get the rest to unite against this world order”.

Putin received the plan coldly when a group of African presidents presented it to him last month.. Instead, in remarks on Friday, he said Moscow respected the African peace proposal on Ukraine and was studying it carefully..

“New Realities”

An agreement now has little chance. Russia has long said it is open to talks but must reckon with “new realities” on the ground, where it controls nearly a fifth of Ukraine's territory after 17 months of war and has annexed it as its own. four Ukrainian regions as their own.

Although this summit has been devalued in terms of assistance because of the war, African countries have approached St. Petersburg interested in “grain, fertilizer and fuel” from Russia. On the political level, African countries “also seek to attract the attention of the West, because without sharing the very pessimistic Russian vision, they show that they can go with the other party,” recalls Klyszcz..

African Union Chairman Azali Assoumani said Putin's grain offer is not enough, and “a ceasefire is needed in Ukraine”. During the summit, Russia announced that 90% of the pending issues on the African debt had been resolved and blamed the invaded country for not wanting to talk.

Russia wants to pose as Africa's “big friend,” even though its investment is minimal and its trade with the continent has stagnated. But even so, Moscow insists on increasing its projection over that part of the world for various reasons. “A broad and deep relationship helps Russia to show that it is a power, and at the same time Moscow wants to undermine the presence of the West and Ukraine in the world,” said Klyszcz, who collaborates with the International Center for Defense and Security (ICDS). Africa is also useful for “sanctions evasion”, for example providing an outlet for the 'spoils of war' of Evgeni Prigozhin and his Wagner mercenaries in Africa. “We are basically talking about gold and diamonds, which can be hidden through 'hubs' that have a more favorable legal environment, such as Turkey and the United Arab Emirates, and then use those dollars to buy chips and components in China or any other country.”