2023 Russia–Africa Summit

The second Russia–Africa Summit was held at the Expo Forum in St. Petersburg on 27 and 28 July 2023, following its postponement, having been originally scheduled for October 2022 at the African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

[5][6] The summit was attended by Yevgeny Prigozhin – leader of Wagner Group at the time – in one of his first, and final, public appearances in Russia since launching an unsuccessful rebellion.

"[65] During the Russian-African summit, president Denis Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo urged Putin that the Russian invasion of Ukraine must end and that the African peace plan should not be underestimated.

"[69] Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa voiced support for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying that he and Putin "discussed the need for prosperity through peace as well as how our countries can work together to assure food security across the continent", adding that the "victims of sanctions must cooperate".

The countries that were to receive free grain included allies of Russia: Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Mali, and Zimbabwe, as well as war torn Somalia.

[82] During the sidelines of the summit, Putin held several bilateral meetings, including with Ethiopian prime minister Abiy Ahmed, and Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, discussing trade, nuclear energy and other topics.

Leaders from the Comoros, Cameroon, Uganda, Libya, and the Republic of the Congo, alongside African Union Commission chairperson Moussa Faki, were among representatives giving remarks, with emphasized calls to Putin for an end to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

[73] A confirmed sighting of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in the aftermath of the failed mutiny emerged, showing him meeting with Freddy Mapouka, a presidential advisor in the Central African Republic, and the head of the Cameroonian version of pro-Russian media outlet Afrique Media, at the Trezzini Palace hotel in St. Petersburg during the 2023 Africa-Russia summit.