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Russian President Vladimir Putin has demanded the bulk of grain and fertiliser to be exported under the Black Sea Initiative must be channelled to Africa. -snip- Speaking to African government ministers on Monday during the International Parliamentary Conference, dubbed "Africa in a Multipolar World", in Moscow, Putin said his key demands were that Africans should be the biggest beneficiaries. "We insist on the package nature of this deal - above all, in the interests of African and other developing countries, considering that they need large amounts of food - we insist on full compliance with Russia's key requirements, first of...

On 19 and 20 March, some 40 African delegations travelled to Moscow ahead of the Russia-Africa summit scheduled for July in St Petersburg, to discuss cooperation and the fight against the influence of “former colonial powers”. There is but one step between Vladimir Putin’s office and the Duma in central Moscow. It was at the Russian parliament’s headquarters, just a few metres from the Kremlin, that the conference “Russia-Africa in a multipolar world” was held from 19-20 March, the second of its kind devoted to strengthening cooperation between African and Russian parliamentarians. The meeting came ahead of the next Africa-Russia...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday said Moscow has written off the debts of African states worth more than $20 billion. -snip- "The states of Africa are constantly increasing their weight and their role in world affairs, they are asserting themselves more and more confidently in politics and in the economy. We are convinced that Africa will become one of the leaders in the emerging new multipolar world order," Putin added. He said Russia and the countries of Africa, Asia, and Latin America are against the neo-colonial ideology. "Russia and African countries uphold moral norms and social principles traditional for...