The US-led collective West don’t hold the military and technological edge over other countries as it used to till a few years back, a Russian Ambassador has told Sputnik ahead of the second Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg.
"It's about changing the global balance of power on the world stage. The West is no longer a unique technological, political and military center that has the ability to exert a decisive influence on other centres of influence,” remarked Oleg Ozerov, the Ambassador-at-large at Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
Ozerov said that many non-western nations were now vying for global superiority in these areas, including the BRICS states comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
He underlined the growing interest in the BRICS grouping, saying that many African nations were also “striving to get into” the multilateral grouping.
The Russian diplomat suggested that a discussion on the global food and fertilizer crisis would figure in talks between African heads of state and the Russian leadership when they convene for the Russia-Africa Summit.
He said that Moscow would look to propose solutions to the address concerns around global food security at the summit, particularly after the expiration of the ‘Black Sea Grain Initiative’ last week.
Russia Will Continue to Supply Food, Fertilizerы to Africa: Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin has reassured African nations that Moscow would “continue its energetic efforts to provide supplies of grain, food products, fertilizers, and other goods to Africa”.
Putin made the remarks in an article written by him and published by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday.
“Africa feels the burden of global challenges like no other part of the world. In such a challenging environment, we look forward to working with our African partners to shape a non-discriminatory agenda for cooperation,” Putin noted.
He said that “uninterrupted food supplies” remained vital for the “socio-economic development and political stability of the African States”.
The Russian President said that the Black Sea Grain deal was “shamelessly” exploited by the US and the western allies, who enriched themselves through the export of Ukrainian grain to most rich countries.
Putin highlighted that less than three percent of the supplies since the deal was enacted last July ended up with low and middle-income nations of Global South.
“Of 262,000 tonnes of goods blocked in European ports, only two shipments were delivered – one of 20,000 tonnes to Malawi and one of 34,000 tonnes to Kenya,” Putin stated in the article.