The upcoming “Russia-Africa” summit, which aims to strengthen economic and humanitarian cooperation between Russia and African nations, will be unusual this year. The summit serves as a platform to showcase the strengthening diplomatic ties, however, it appears that the implementation of the idea is almost on the verge of failure. All because African leaders organized a boycott summit.
Silent ignoring
In total, Russia sent official invitations to the leaders of 54 countries. On the day of the beginning of the “Russia-Africa” summit, it is known that:
- 38 applications were rejected;
- only 16 invitations were accepted.
This situation is quite revealing and cannot be considered an ordinary coincidence. The mass rejection of the invitations has already been labeled in the press as a boycott.
Silence and peace
The Russia-Africa summit is a large-scale event that has been allocated a significant amount of funding from the state budget. The event will take place in St. Petersburg at the “Expocenter”. In return for the spent funds, they hoped to receive generous political dividends, but something went wrong.
To make the situation appear less disrespectful, several leaders who declined to attend in person sent other officials instead:
- 10 countries sent Prime Ministers and Vice Prime Ministers;
- 5 countries sent ambassadors.
At the same time, 5 countries declined the invitation altogether without sending any representatives.
Political slap
Such an African boycott looks particularly offensive to the Russian side, especially since it was known in advance that Putin personally plans to meet with each of the leaders during the summit.
Obviously, Africa shows that it is leaving the sphere of influence of the Russian Federation. Since most African countries have long been important raw material, trade, and political partners of Russia, this could have a negative impact on Putin’s international standing and reputation.
