A summit with nearly two dozen African leaders opened in Moscow Wednesday, with the Kremlin describing their countries as "natural allies" against the West.

The two-day Russia-Africa summit, the third since 2019, comes as Moscow grapples with heavy Western sanctions over its Ukraine offensive and as it provides security assistance to several African governments.

Moscow has courted ties with Africa since the Soviet era, and has long looked to the continent as a counterweight to what it sees as Western domination over international affairs.

"We are natural allies in building a multipolar world order," Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said of the summit, referring to a system where political power is no longer concentrated in the West.

Russian President Vladimir Putin meanwhile said that that multipolar world was quickly becoming a reality, in an "irreversible" trend.

"The era when the fate of entire continents was determined by a narrow bloc of states is irrevocably gone," he said as he opened a Russia-Africa economic forum, which gathered thousands of Russian and African business leaders in Moscow hours before the high-level summit began.

He told the delegations from 48 African countries, including 22 represented by their leaders, that Russia was "prepared to further expand the geographical reach of our agricultural product shipments."

The pledge came as attacks in the Black Sea linked to the conflict in Ukraine continue to disrupt exports of grain from both Russia and Ukraine.

'Neocolonialism'

Putin also announced that Moscow planned to "localise" the production of "effective Russian medicines and vaccines" on the African continent, and noted that the number of African students in Russia had swelled 50 percent since 2020.

The Russian president also stressed that his country was "open to sharing our modern competencies and high-tech digital know-how with our African friends."

Putin's criticism of what he calls Western "neocolonialism" in Africa has resonated on the continent.

That is especially true in the Sahel, where Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have turned their backs on their former colonial ruler France in favour of closer ties with Moscow.

Among the around 20 bilateral meetings Putin was scheduled to have with African leaders in Moscow this week was one with his Malian counterpart Assimi Goita, whose government is using Russian paramilitaries to battle a jihadist offensive.

DRC-Rwanda tensions

Putin was also due to meet with Democratic Republic of Congo President Felix Tshisekedi, who is attending the summit as tensions between his country and neighbouring Rwanda continue to flare.

The Rwandan-backed M23 movement has seized swathes of the eastern DRC since taking up arms again in 2021, and, despite a US-brokered truce last December, fighting has continued.

Rwanda was to be represented at the Moscow summit by Prime Minister Justin Nsengiyumva.

The summit was expected to end Thursday with a final declaration on deepening cooperation between Russia and African nations, alongside a separate statement on cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence.

In all, 33 documents will be signed at the summit, focused in particular on economic cooperation, according to the Kremlin.

Russia will also seek to strengthen its diplomatic presence on the continent, where it aims soon to open a 49th embassy, in Liberia, the Kremlin said.

Conscripted Africans

Russia's relations with African nations have meanwhile been clouded in recent years by numerous reports of Africans being forcibly conscripted by Moscow to fight on the frontlines in Ukraine.

Several African countries, including Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa, have publicly voiced alarm at the fate of their citizens recruited by Moscow.

In an open letter to the African heads of state and other officials attending the Moscow summit, the Amnesty International rights group voiced "deep concern regarding Russia's forced and deceptive recruitment" of African nations.

The letter, published Tuesday, urged the officials to demand that Russia "cease any ongoing and future recruitment of people from Africa and other foreign nationals into its military forces."

Putin Says Africa and Russia Are 'Natural Allies' as Major Summit Begins in Moscow

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