Yesterday and today, a handful of African autocrats met in St. Petersburg, Russia, with Russian dictator and war criminal Vladimir Putin in a noticeably diminished group from years past. These summits deal with economic ties between Russia and African nations (i.e., Russia's extraction of wealth from Africa via client autocrats who are protected by Russia's Wagner Group). This year's motley crowd numbered 17, versus 43 in 2019. The linked CNN report notes that Putin's blockade of Ukrainian grain is a sore point for the attendees this year:
'Putin has been seeking to strengthen ties with African countries and offered to send free grain to the continent, something the UN warned would not make up for Russia pulling out of a crucial grain deal. Russia has also been targeting Ukrainian ports.
Just 17 heads of African states are attending this year, the Kremlin has confirmed, less than half of the 43 heads of state that attended the 2019 conference.
In the run-up to the event, the Kremlin fumed over the poor turnout, and accused the United States and its Western allies of putting “unprecedented pressure” on African countries in an attempt to derail the summit.
Among those absent is Kenyan President William Ruto, whose government has been critical of Russia’s recent decision to withdraw from the Black Sea grain deal, describing the move as a 'stab in the back of global food security prices.'” (our emphasis)
The list of attendees reads like a who's who of dysfunctional juntas and autocracies like Mali, the Central African Republic, Eritrea, Zimbabwe and the like. Most of their militaries are supplied and trained by Russia, and have relations going back to the Soviet Union days.
Surprisingly, on the sidelines of the summit, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was photographed shaking hands with a member of the Central African Republic delegation, one of the Wagner Group's propped up governments. The picture only undermined Putin's strongman image, as he had promised "traitor" Prigozhin would be held accountable for the Wagner mutiny just weeks ago. Then again, maybe he was catering for the summit.
