African Leaders Show Little Enthusiasm for Putin’s Charm Offensive - Peter Fabricius

President Cyril Ramaphosa and other African leaders have gathered in St. Petersburg for the second Russia-Africa summit. The previous summit took place in Sochi in 2019. Amid Russia's deepening isolation from the West due to the invasion of Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin has increasingly turned to Africa. However, Independent Journalist and Foreign Policy Analyst, Peter Fabricius, told Biznews that only 17 out of the 43 African leaders who attended the 2019 Sochi summit indicated their willingness to participate this time. Fabricius emphasised that Putin's hosting of the African leaders is an attempt to demonstrate that he is not as isolated as the West perceives him to be following the invasion. African leaders, he said, are hoping to reinstate the export of Ukrainian grain. Fabricius also shared that despite being accredited as a member of the press for the summit, his accreditation was unexpectedly withdrawn at the last minute—a move he suspects may have been initiated by the Russian embassy in Pretoria - Linda van TilburgYour early morning brew of the BizNews Insider keeps you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here - https://bit.ly/3lfVRYP.---Timestamps00:09 - Introductions00:47 - Peter Fabricius on being withdrawn accreditation to attend the summit02:29 - If any of the pledges from the last summit materialised03:08 - On the drop of African attendees04:01 - On what Putin is trying to get from the summit04:53 - What the African leaders are hoping to gain06:06 - On the Russians bumper crop of grain from the Ukraine07:36 - On if African leaders will mention the influence of the Wagner group in Africa08:35 - On if the peace initiative that Ramaphosa and some African leaders initiated might be on the table10:14 - How the West sees this11:34 - On the human rights violations in Ukraine and if they will be discussed14:35 - On if Jacob Zuma will attend the summit15:40 - Any new developments on the BRICS Summit16:41 - Conclusions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices