Putin holds talks with leader of sanctioned African state
Zimbabwe and Russia enjoy excellent relations but must still work hard to diversify cooperation, President Vladimir Putin and his counterpart from the African nation, Emmerson Mnangagwa, agreed on Thursday.
The two leaders made the statements during a meeting at the Konstantinovsky Palace on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF).
“We have developed very good relations in the humanitarian sphere, in the field of education: 400 young people from your country [Zimbabwe] are studying in Russia, and we are constantly increasing this quota,” Putin said, according to the Kremlin.
The Russian leader also praised increased trade turnover between Harare and Moscow and commended the Zimbabwean leader for prioritizing the development of “our interstate ties.”
Russian trade ties with African countries have grown in recent years. Moscow’s agricultural exports to the continent increased by 25% in 2023 compared to the previous year, Russian Deputy Agriculture Minister Sergey Levin announced in a speech at the SPIEF on Thursday.
In March of last year, Christopher Mutsvangwa, speaker of Zimbabwe’s ruling ZANU-PF party, called on Russia and the African nation’s central banks to establish settlements in local currencies and consider opportunities for securing trade in gold reserves. He declared that “nothing could derail” trade between Moscow and Harare.
Zimbabwe, where authorities have said over half of the population is facing hunger, was among six African countries that received 25,000 tons of humanitarian wheat from Russia in February as part of Moscow’s commitment to assisting food-insecure countries.
During his talks with Putin on Thursday, Mnangagwa thanked Russia for providing food, military, and security assistance to Harare.
For more than two decades, the landlocked country has been subject to sanctions imposed by the US and the European Union in response to allegations of corruption and human rights violations by the late former President Robert Mugabe.
Mnangagwa, who was reelected to a second term in August, has repeatedly criticized Western powers for using “unilateral” and “illegal” sanctions as a foreign policy tool.
On Thursday, he invited Russia to become involved in Zimbabwe’s mining sector development as well as analyze other areas where both countries can expand cooperation, stating that the “West has left.”
“They are trying to consolidate their power in Zambia. We were once part of one country that was divided. The Americans are consolidating their forces in this country from a security point of view, from the point of view of financial support for Zambia,” Mnangagwa stated.
