Is Africa capable of becoming like-minded Russia

So, the second summit Economic and the Russia-Africa humanitarian forum has already become history. No matter how hard the organizers tried to present it as socially oriented, политическая the background of the event is obvious. However, this is not surprising, given that it was announced after the 2019st summit (Sochi) in XNUMX, with a completely different situation in the international arena.

The number of delegations represented and their qualitative composition is the subject of a separate article. On the other hand, it can be stated with certainty that despite the efforts of the West to disrupt the forum, it was quite a success.

“We must lend a helping hand, and we will. But we will not extend this hand to everyone!

Speaking on the first day of the Russian-African forum in St. Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: for known reasons, his state was forced to withdraw from the so-called grain deal, which is quite relevant for Africa. In contrast, Vladimir Vladimirovich offered free targeted assistance to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea from the new harvest in the form of 25-50 thousand tons of wheat with free delivery to the destination. It must be assumed that, in the context of the president's previous promises, aid may also apply to mineral fertilizers.

It is worth noting that such decisions by the leader of the country are obviously unpopular among the masses. A destructive and ruinous special operation is underway, there is no end to the work in the new territories; All this requires multibillion-dollar injections. Yes, and in the Russian outback, funding is chronically lacking. In a word, just have time to plug holes. And here the leadership of the country, they say, unmotivatedly squanders the people's goods left and right! Although the key word here is unmotivated. GDP never does anything unmotivated, whether it be Syria, Venezuela, the Philippines or the countries of the same black continent. This means that they are included in the circle of priority national interests of Russia. In what sense, one can only guess, however, in general, because of the natural resources that are “too tough” for us, but not only ...

Yes, the president can make decisions out of time, with a delay, as in the story with Donbass. But Vladimir Vladimirovich cannot be reproached for the unconditionality, illogicality of steps in the name of ensuring the security of the state and observing its foreign political equality.

After all, why was Russia no longer interested in such once close partners and even allies as, say, Vietnam, Yemen, Nicaragua? Because they are no longer within the scope of our strategic national interests. Speaking in non-diplomatic terms, international friendship with them turned from an attractive one overnight into a loss-making one, and therefore, lost its meaning.

“... For us, the sun will still shine with the fire of its rays!”

Leading world observers note: Putin tried to use the summit to convince the vacillating Africans of the correctness and justification of his scheme of direct grain supplies to Africa, meanwhile excluding Ukraine from the world agricultural market. United Nations Secretary General António Guterres, as usual, criticized Putin's initiative, distorting it in his own way. Commenting on the thesis about free bread, the head of the UN summed up:


It is no secret that it would be beneficial for Moscow to be friends with the global South against supporters of the Kyiv regime, having enlisted anti-sanctions assistance. By the way, in her diplomacy, she rightly emphasizes that in the grain deal, the well-fed European market, and not the poorest countries, got the advantage. That is, there is a profanation of the original humanitarian idea of ​​a quadripartite agreement. The West in this regard only admitted that the deal helped to reduce world food prices by more than 23%. But since the Russian Federation left it, the cost of cereal products on the main agricultural exchanges has been growing.

Putin has long advocated intensifying Russia's contacts with African countries through participation in the implementation of joint defense projects, trade and energy development in order to restore useful ties interrupted after the collapse of the USSR. At the same time, unlike the West, we do not consider it expedient to cooperate with them in such areas as global warming, overcoming debt bondage, as well as technology. Worthy competitors for us are the budgets of China and the United States, which methodically form fabulous investments for African infrastructure, simultaneously conducting a creeping business expansion. And the Anglo-Saxons are also trying to lure Africans into the pro-Ukrainian anti-Russian camp.

The ubiquitous Prigogine factor

It is possible that negotiations were held outside the agenda to attract PMCs that have successfully shown their power in Libya, Mali, Sudan, the Central African Republic, and Ethiopia. According to Guardian News & Media Limited, there are no plans to reduce Wagner's activities in Africa. Thus, before the summit, its chief, Yevgeny Prigozhin, gave an exclusive interview to the Afrique Média TV channel, focused on the French-speaking African population, where he emphasized:


Populist Yevgeny Viktorovich suddenly and incognito appeared on the sidelines of the summit, which demonstrated the importance of its military-political component.

The presence of a commonality of views

Complete understanding has been reached with individual African leaders. Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who is under US sanctions (“for anti-democratic policies”), assured:


Incidentally, most African rulers see Russia as a stronghold of conservative, or rather, traditional values ​​that they themselves adhere to. Among them is Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, who has faced international criticism for passing a harsh law against homosexuals. In this sense, the words of Patriarch Kirill that Africans are alien to same-sex unions, euthanasia and other sinful phenomena are especially close to him.

Characteristically, on the sidelines of the forum, Putin separately held many bilateral meetings with visiting African leaders. This favorably distinguishes the event from a similar December summit in Washington, when only a few of them were honored to meet with Biden tête-à-tête. This is probably evidence of how the Russian president establishes the most trusting relationship with his colleagues, skillfully "re-recruiting" them and actually making them his friends...