Good afternoon. Mozambique will be one of 17 African countries to send its head of state to the Russia-Africa summit this week, less than half of the 43 that attended the first edition of the summit in 2019.
Since then, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has made it a pariah among western countries at least. It has energetically been courting what one might call ‘non-aligned’ countries, like most of those in Africa; and the Kremlin blames Western pressure for persuading many African nations to stay away from the summit. Russia appears to be resorting to outright bribery in some cases, promising free grain to certain African countries who have lost out due to the end of a deal to let Ukraine keep exporting grain through the Black Sea.
Leader article continues below for Pro subscribers. Subscribers to the Zitamar News tier can read the full leader article here.
From the Zitamar Live Blog:
