Russia tries to strengthen its influence in Africa with free grain and fertilizer - Bloomberg

Russia is trying to strengthen its influence on the African continent by supplying free grain cargoes. The first of these will arrive in Somalia and Burkina Faso, which have close ties with Moscow, in the coming days.

This was reported by Bloomberg. The article reminds that the Russian dictator reached the relevant agreements with African leaders at the Russia-Africa summit held in July in St. Petersburg.

It is noted that by the end of the year, the volume of supplies to these countries will amount to 200 thousand tons. Zimbabwe, Mali, Eritrea, and the Central African Republic will also receive 25 to 50 thousand tons of grain each, as promised by Putin.

The publication emphasized that as the United States and its allies are trying to isolate Russia in response to its aggression in Ukraine, Moscow is trying to strengthen ties with African countries. To do this, it uses various methods, including expanding trade and sending mercenaries from the Wagner PMC to support unstable governments. Still, Africa remains a minor player, the article notes.

It should be noted that the grain that the Russians were going to supply to Africans was probably stolen in Ukraine, in particular, in Zaporizhzhia. This was warned about by activists of the National Center for the Prevention of Corruption back in July 2023.

They noted that in the temporarily occupied territories, the occupation forces were implementing a corrupt scheme to sell grain from Ukrainian farmers. Thus, all farmers in the occupied regions had to sell wheat to the enemy at a fixed price, several times lower than the market price.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, in September, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Ukraine had included ports on the Danube in the humanitarian initiative Grain from Ukraine. Now, shipments via this route will include corn and wheat to countries in Africa and Asia that face food security problems.

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