Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russia is particularly concerned about its relations with countries on the African continent because of their shared interests, especially given the long history of ties, although these relations face a wide range of challenges, including intense competition with regional and international parties and Axis powers on African territory.
Russia is seeking to deepen economic and trade cooperation with countries on the African continent, breaking the $20 billion threshold and reaching higher levels consistent with these ties. Moscow has actually signaled this through a number of joint activities with countries on the continent, as well as recent visits and outings by Russian officials, including a series of trips by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, in which he expressed Moscow’s interest in strengthening those ties at a time when Russia is facing widespread pressure from the West over influence over the war in Ukraine.
One of the most important upcoming events in Russia’s relations with Africa is the Russia-Africa summit, which will be held in St. Petersburg at the end of July, the second after the recent Sochi summit, exacerbated by the current “food crisis” following the breakdown of the Ukrainian food deal across the Black Sea.
- President Vladimir Putin has confirmed that his country is able to compensate Ukraine for grain exports to Africa on a commercial or free basis, especially as we expect another record harvest this year.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia continued to be prepared to provide free Russian grain to countries in need as an alternative to Ukrainian grain.
- He revealed that the issue of Russia’s supply of food to Africa will be discussed at the Russia-Africa summit at the end of July. He said: We are in touch with our African partners and will continue to communicate during the St. Petersburg summit.
It also relies on this summit to develop an implementation framework, building on the consensus reached during the previous summit and the mutual visits between the two sides over the past period, to build a new era of relations in which the economic aspect plays the cornerstone in the context of mutual interests that both sides desire.
- In 2019, the first Russia-Africa Economic Forum was held in Sochi with the theme “For Peace, Security and Development”.
- The inaugural meeting was attended by representatives of 54 African countries. The number of invitations reached about 10,000 people.
- The meeting determined the main axis of economic cooperation between the two sides to meet the interests of both sides and promote cooperation to achieve tangible results.
- Discussions focused on opportunities in infrastructure, modern mining and mineral processing, agriculture, digital technology, exploration, science and education.
economic motivation
Rami Zuhdi, an expert on African affairs, said in an exclusive interview with “Sky News Arab Economy”: “From the perspective of the current world situation, the engines of all political events and conflicts in the world, and even the motives of strategic invasion or expansion between different international political parties and in specific regions including the African continent, first have an economic background.”
He added: “Specifically, given the difficult situation facing the world, everyone is moving towards integration or economic participation. Russia believes that Africa is not only a strategic extension for it, but also an economic extension. Therefore, a large number of Russian companies operate on the African continent. In recent years, the internal trade volume between Russia and Africa has reached an average of about 20 billion U.S. dollars per year, and direct investment with some African countries exceeds 40 billion U.S. dollars. In addition, there are direct and indirect economic assistance, and debt cancellations of more than 20 billion U.S. dollars.”
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A number of well-known Russian companies operating in Africa are emerging, active in various fields, including mining (such as ALROSA, which specializes in diamond production), energy (such as Lukoil, which operates on the African continent), and Rosatom, which was tasked with building a nuclear power plant in Egypt (Daba Nuclear Power Plant).
It is believed that there are many basic motives for today’s rapprochement between Russia and the countries of the African continent at the economic level. The most important of these are:
- Russia sees itself as a great country both economically and politically, and must secure itself a wide commercial sphere.
- Therefore; Russia sees Africa as an important business area for Russian companies, investments and goods.
- Russia is also seeking to end dollar hegemony, so it finds an opportunity to replace the dollar (in this case the BRICS currencies) in participatory bilateral relations with countries on the African continent and the African Union as a whole.
- Russia also sees Africa, which suffers from a food shortage crisis and is largely dependent on Russian food imports, as an opportunity to build strong ties at the economic level.
- Russia, which may suffer major international conflicts in the future, has found alternatives or positive solutions on the African continent while facing economic sanctions.
energy sector
At the same time, he pointed out that Africa is not a single entity, but dozens of countries, which also have different capabilities and needs, and that Moscow can cooperate with these countries on separate relevant documents, which creates great opportunities for cooperation between it and the countries of the African continent, and it exists in many geographical regions of Africa (..). energy, renewable energy and nuclear energy.
Oleg Ozrov, special envoy of the Russian Foreign Ministry and head of the secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, said in a statement reported by the media a few weeks ago that there are multiple opportunities for Russia to develop relations with countries on the African continent, especially in the field of energy.
In this context, the Russian Satellite News Agency quoted the chairman of the African Energy Chamber of Commerce Andrey Ayuk as saying that Russia can play a leading role in supporting energy projects on the African continent.
Beyond that, military ties, since it sells and supplies arms to many countries on the continent, mean strong economic returns for Russia, and sometimes help handle the budgets of some African countries or provide them with soft loans. Consequently, economic cooperation between the Russian Federation and the African continent is likely to grow strongly in the coming years.
challenge
But at the same time, Zuhdi monitors a range of challenges facing these relationships. On top of that, Russia is not the only player, as there are many competitors on the scene, each with their own tools. He added: “The problem is not just economic relations, as these require strong political cover and an effective strategic presence. So given that this international competition does not leave Russia alone, it does not appear that Moscow’s path is entirely smooth.”
- Trade between countries on the continent and Russia peaked at more than $20 billion in 2018, a relatively low rate.
- According to President Putin’s confirmation at the plenary session of the International Parliamentary Conference “Russia and Africa in a Multipolar World”, the trade volume between the two countries will reach approximately US$ 18 billion in 2022.
- President Putin has previously said Russia would donate 300,000 tonnes of fertilizer seized in Latvia, Estonia, Belgium and the Netherlands to impoverished African countries.
- Moscow’s cancellation of $20 billion in debt owed by some African countries is seen by analysts as an encouragement to a new phase in relations between the two countries and in the mutual interest of both.
Impact of the food deal
Going back to Zuhdi’s speech, regarding the food agreement, he argued that “Russia’s withdrawal from the agreement will prompt a new tool for Russia’s invasion of Africa, as Moscow, freed from said agreement, will use the food document to further strengthen its relations with the countries of the African continent, effectively becoming a food donor or banner to anyone it wants.” The African affairs expert summed up his views in this context, saying:
- In theory, Russia’s withdrawal from the agreement is a negative signal for countries on the African continent, but in practice, it will become a new tool for Russia to deal with African problems.
- Russia’s new foreign relations doctrine uses terms such as “friendly country” and “unfriendly country” many times. After withdrawing from the food agreement, Russia will be able to mainly focus on (giving these grains) to friendly countries.
- This allowed Russia to sign bilateral food agreements with some friendly countries in Africa (ranking countries as friendly or friendlier or even unfriendly).
- Russia had earlier announced after withdrawing from the agreement that it might provide free food to countries most in need in Africa. Moscow is thus strategically exploiting the continent’s food needs, especially since about 40% of Africa’s needs are imported from abroad, especially from Russia and Ukraine.
international competition
In an exclusive interview with Sky News Arab Economy, Dmitry Briga, a Russian analyst and researcher at the People’s Friendship University of Russia, said that Russia’s cooperation with Africa may increase significantly in the next stage, explaining that Moscow has shown great interest in exercising hegemony on the African continent and competing with France and Western countries.
He added that “the pace of competition between China, the EU and Russia at all levels of the continent will accelerate in the coming years”, emphasizing that the continent “will clearly be one of the most important areas of competition, control and influence”.
He believes that Africa will face a series of problems and difficulties due to this competition, including possible internal disputes. At the same time, he expects an increase in the rate of trade cooperation between Russia and African countries after the visit of Algerian President Abdulmajid Tebun to Moscow, the latest of which is Algeria, so “we look forward to a new path for Russia to the East”.
He emphasized that Russia is committed to promoting trade and investment relations with the African continent, and has signed a series of economic agreements in various fields such as infrastructure, energy, mining and agriculture.
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