Russia is trying to “buy” Africa’s favor with free grain

The Russians plan to send 200,000 tons of grain to Africa to gain political support from the countries of the continent.

At the Russian-African summit in July, Russian President Vladimir Putin promised to send grain free of charge to six African countries with strong ties to Moscow. This step is evaluated as justification for Russia’s instigation of the world food crisis, Bloomberg reports.

The total volume of supplies will be 200,000 tons by the end of the year. The first recipients of Russian cargo will be Somalia and Burkina Faso. They also plan to send grain to Zimbabwe, Mali, Eritrea and the Central African Republic — from 25,000 to 50,000 tons to each country. This is a tiny fraction of what the African population consumes.

The Kremlin seeks to strengthen ties with African states by increasing trade and deploying Wagner PMC mercenaries to support unstable governments. However, Russia remains a minor player — its bilateral trade with the countries of the continent in 2022 was only $18 billion. For comparison, China’s total trade with African countries reaches 282 billion dollars.