Moscow announces Russia-Africa summit move
The African continent will host the third Russia-Africa summit in 2026, a Russian Foreign Ministry official told TASS in an interview published on Tuesday. The specific country where the summit will take place has not been revealed.
Vsevolod Tkachenko, who heads the ministry’s Africa Department, said Moscow had launched a dialogue platform to hold regular joint meetings with foreign ministers from the continent to plan the next high-level conference.
“We are currently working with our partners to coordinate the timeframes and modality of a debut meeting next fall,” the Russian diplomat said.
The second Russia-Africa summit was held in St. Petersburg back in July, with representatives of 49 states from the continent in attendance. During the two-day event, Russian President Vladimir Putin made commitments to strengthen ties with African nations, including the launch of a program to provide humanitarian aid to a number of states experiencing food insecurity.
Moscow reopened its embassy in Burkina Faso in December, after President Putin and Ibrahim Traore, the interim leader of the former French colony, reached an agreement at a July summit.
On Tuesday, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry’s Africa Department announced that another diplomatic mission would soon open in Equatorial Guinea.
“Several more missions are on the way; we will announce where they will be set up as soon as the work is done,” Tkachenko told TASS.
He added that Moscow was working to launch flights to new destinations across Africa, where Russia’s national airline, Aeroflot, has resumed operations in the Seychelles and Mauritius in recent years.
“The goal stems from the decisions made at the Russia-Africa summit and work is underway, which is certainly taking into account economic and logistics difficulties,” Tkachenko said.
Russia’s engagement with Africa has been in the spotlight, stirring dissatisfaction in the EU, since French troops were expelled from Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger following coups. While France and some of its Western allies claim Moscow is spreading disinformation in the three former colonies, the military governments in Ouagadougou, Bamako, and Niamey have hailed Moscow as a strategic ally.
Earlier this month, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the bloc was in a dilemma over its remaining presence in the Sahel region, particularly Mali, where he claims Moscow’s influence has increased.
In the interview with TASS, Tkachenko described the approach of Western governments toward Africa as “neocolonialism,” adding that Moscow would respond appropriately to anti-Russia campaigns by the West on the continent.
