Leaders and delegations from dozens of African countries have gathered in Moscow for the third Russia-Africa Summit, a two-day event running on October 28 and 29. The meeting is chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, who currently leads the African Union.
The forum comes as Russia deepens its security and trade cooperation with African nations while contending with Western sanctions imposed over its war in Ukraine. Delegates are due to discuss bilateral ties covering politics, defence and technology. The first summit was held in Sochi in October 2019 and marked an unprecedented shift in Russian-African relations.
The official theme is Developing Mutually Beneficial Cooperation and "unlocking the potential of every African country." More than 40 sessions and about 100 speakers will address trade, investment, technology transfer, food and energy security, healthcare, education and youth exchange. A business programme will lead into a closing plenary session.
According to Kremlin presidential aide Yury Ushakov, representatives from 48 African countries will take part, including 22 heads of state. Heads of state from 17 countries attended the 2023 summit. Attendance by leaders has fallen at the last two gatherings compared with 2019, when 43 took part, a drop Moscow has blamed on Western pressure.
Putin is scheduled to meet Egypt's Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed. Also on the guest list are Burkina Faso's Ibrahim Traore and Niger's Abdourahamane Tchiani, both tied closely to Russia's growing security role in Africa. Kenya's William Ruto, Uganda's Yoweri Museveni, Namibia's Netumbo Nandi-Ndatiwah, Sudan's Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and Libya's Mohamed al-Menfi, chairman of the Presidential Council, are also expected.
A report by the security consultancy African Security Analysis group concluded that Russia has gained far more influence in Africa through security than through trade. In 2023, Russian forces, mostly from the Wagner Group, operated in only a few African countries. The group now counts Russian missions or troops in at least nine.
Trade between African countries and Russia has passed $28bn, up from an estimated $16.8bn in 2019. Still, it is concentrated in a few countries and overshadowed by commerce with China and the European Union. Russia's strongest links are in energy, fertilisers, defence and nuclear power, where state-owned Rosatom has signed a series of agreements. Russia has also been an essential supplier of fertilisers and wheat, and in 2023 it exported 200,000 tonnes of grain to Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Eritrea and Zimbabwe.
Analysts say the summit, the first since 2023, will show how far the relationship has developed and where it is heading. A final declaration and a Russia-Africa Partnership Forum plan covering 2027 to 2029 are expected to be adopted by the end of the event. Some analysts argue that sideline meetings between African delegations and Russian defence officials may matter more than the main programme, since they can reveal where Moscow intends to widen its military ties.
The recruitment of Africans to fight in Ukraine may become a growing problem for Moscow and has already raised diplomatic concern in countries such as Kenya. Ahead of the summit, Amnesty International published an open letter from the directors of its African section urging attending leaders to demand that Moscow end what the group describes as deceptive and coercive recruitment of Africans for its war.
