President Vladimir Putin told African leaders on Wednesday that Russia was their best partner, what he cast as a colonial West of still trying to exploit the continent’s resources and using debt to hold back development.
Putin was speaking at the third Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow, a two-day event attended by African leaders and government delegations from 48 countries, and will hold ?one-on-one talks with many of the 22 individual African leaders attending on issues such as trade, security, arms and ?grain.
The event, first held in 2019, is part of a concerted push for Russian political, economic and military influence on a continent where paramilitary fighters from Russia’s Africa Corps remain active.
Russian state media and cultural institutions ?are also trying to expand their footprint in Africa, and Russian state companies are trying to expand their interests in areas from ?mining to power generation.
Wooing African leaders and others from the Global South has also been part of Moscow’s strategy to counterbalance pressure on the world stage from the West over Russia’s war in Ukraine.
‘Africa is increasingly asserting itself as one of the key players in the global economy and ?politics,’ Putin said.
‘However, the emergence of a multipolar world is, of course, no easy task; it faces resistance from countries ?that are not prepared to accept this reality: those who are accustomed to thinking in terms of their colonial past and to enriching themselves .’
Putin, whom Western critics accuse of trying to leverage Africa’s colonial past to Moscow’s benefit, did not name the countries he had in mind.