The Kremlin said yesterday that just 17 African heads of state would be attending the summit, which begins today, far fewer than at its 2019 conference or at a December meeting with Joe Biden that saw dozens of African leaders fly to Washington.
Russia is in a battle for influence in Africa, claiming that its summit is being undercut by western powers as it seeks out diplomatic allies in its standoff over Ukraine.
"This is absolutely blatant, brazen interference by the United States, France and other states through their diplomatic missions in African countries and their attempts to put pressure on the leadership of these countries to prevent their active participation in the forum," said Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov, when asked about the smaller number of leaders attending.
Hit by sanctions imposed by much of the western world and driven into isolation, Russia has emphasised its plan to court the global south, claiming its future lies in Asia and Africa, where projected growth presents extraordinary opportunities.
But Putin's promises in 2019 to boost trade with Africa to $40bn have come up far short, and Russia's economic influence there is still dwarfed by other powers such as China and is being hampered by new western sanctions.
"I don't expect any breakthrough," said Alexandra Prokopenko, a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center thinktank.
This story is from the July 27, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the July 27, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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