Russian President Vladimir Putin interrupted opening remarks by African leaders seeking to mediate in the Ukraine conflict to deliver a list of reasons why he believed many of their proposals were misguided.
African leaders met President Putin on Saturday in the northwestern Russian city of Saint Petersburg, a day after talks with his Ukrainian counterpart.
President Putin gave African leaders seeking to mediate in the war in Ukraine a list of reasons why he believed many of their proposals were misguided.
Putin opened Saturday’s talks with representatives of Senegal, Egypt, Zambia, Uganda, Congo Republic, Comoros and South Africa by stressing Russia’s commitment to the continent.
But after presentations from the Comoran, Senegalese and South African presidents, he stepped in to challenge the assumptions of the plan – predicated on acceptance of internationally recognised borders – before the round of statements could go any further.
Putin reiterated his position that Ukraine and its Western allies had started the conflict long before Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine in February last year, something they deny.
He said the West, not Russia, was responsible for a sharp rise in global food prices early last year that has hit Africa especially hard.
He also told the delegates that the current crisis on the global food market, which has had a large impact on Africa, was not a consequence of the conflict in Ukraine.
He told the delegation that Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports that Russia has permitted for the past year were doing nothing to alleviate Africa’s difficulties with high food prices because they had largely gone to wealthy countries.
And he said Russia had never refused talks with the Ukrainian side, which had been blocked by Kyiv. Moscow has, however, repeatedly said any peace must allow for “new realities”, meaning its declared annexation of five Ukrainian provinces, four of which it only partially controls – a red line for Kyiv.
After the talks at the government’s Konstantinovsky Palace, Putin said he welcomed what he called the “a balanced stance” on the conflict in Ukraine taken by the members of the delegation.
A number of African countries have so far failed to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Putin also said Moscow was “open to a constructive dialogue with all those who want peace based on the principles of justice and consideration of the legitimate interests of the parties.”
The African plan includes a call for all children caught up in the conflict to be returned to where they came from, but Putin said Russia was not preventing any Ukrainian children from returning home.
“We took them out of a conflict zone, saving their lives,” he said.
The African leaders were seeking agreement on a series of “confidence building measures”, even as Kyiv last week began a counteroffensive to push back Russian forces from the swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine that they occupy.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa laid out the 10 points of the African initiative, after Comoros President Azali Assoumani, current chairman of the African Union, told Putin: “we’ve come here to listen to you, and through you the Russian people, and encourage you to enter negotiations with Ukraine in order to put an end to the difficult ordeal.We gave ourselves this mission because, as Africans, unfortunately, we have had to manage numerous conflicts, and it’s through dialogue and negotiations that we have succeeded at resolving them.”
President Ramaphosa said the delegation recognized the sovereignty of countries in terms of the UN charter, but that it at the same time respected positions put forward by both sides.
“We do believe that this is the time for both parties to negotiate an end to this war, which is causing a great deal of instability and harm,” he said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said after meeting them in Kyiv on Friday that peace talks would require Moscow to withdraw its forces from occupied Ukrainian territory, something Russia has said is not negotiable.
However, Russia has said repeatedly that any settlement must take account of “new realities”, meaning its declared annexation of five Ukrainian provinces, four of which it only partially controls.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in televised remarks that Moscow shared the “main approaches” of the African plan, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying it was “difficult to realise”.
Peskov, however, said that although Putin had shown interest in the plan, it would be hard to realize. He said Russia would continue dialogue with the countries behind the plan.
The African diplomatic team had traveled to Kyiv on Friday to call for peace after their continent was hit hard by rising grain prices due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“There should be peace through negotiations,” Ramaphosa told Ukrainian President Zelenskyy and quoted Nelson Mandela several times during a news conference that followed the talks.
The calls were rebuffed by Zelenskyy however, who said that “to allow any negotiations with Russia now that the occupier is on our land is to freeze the war, to freeze pain and suffering.” Zelenskyy has repeatedly said Russia must withdraw its troops from Ukrainian territory in order for peace talks to be successful.
While in Kyiv, the African leaders were forced to shelter when air raid sirens due to the detection of incoming Russian missiles.
The Ukrainian Air Force later said it shot down 12 missiles, including six hypersonic ones.
While there was no reported damage inside the city, seven people including two children were wounded, the regional police said.