“I would like to draw your attention to the fact that with the support of President Tayyip Erdogan, as you know, a series of talks between Russia and Ukraine took place in Türkiye to work out confidence-building measures and draft the text of the agreement,” Putin said before presenting the agreement to the African delegation.
View of the meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the African peace delegation. Photo: RIA Novosti
“We did not discuss with the Ukrainian side that this agreement would be kept secret, but we never presented it and did not comment on it. This draft agreement was initialed by the head. He signed it. Here it is,” Putin said, showing the draft agreement.
President Putin also said during the talks that Russia was committed to cooperation and support for Africa. He said the West, not Russia, was responsible for the sharp rise in global food prices early last year, which hit Africa particularly hard.
The Russian leader added that the deal to help export Ukrainian grain from Black Sea ports that Russia had signed did not help ease Africa's hardships because most of it was already going to rich countries.
And he said Russia had never refused to negotiate with Ukraine. However, Russia has repeatedly said that any peace plan must be consistent with “new realities,” namely recognition of Moscow’s annexation of five Ukrainian regions, including Crimea.
Mr Putin publicly announced the initial peace agreement with Ukraine in front of leaders from Africa. Photo: RIA Novosti
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov also said on Saturday after President Putin's meeting with the African peace mission that African countries support the indivisibility of global security and Russia supports this principled stance.
“First of all, African leaders stressed that China’s 12-point peace plan, which was presented a few months ago…, that all the principles of the UN Charter on territorial integrity need to be guaranteed…, that security is indivisible on a global scale. These are the attitudes of principle that we share,” he said.
Mr Lavrov also pointed out that African countries have shown an understanding of the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis, which “was created by the efforts of the West”. Foreign Minister Lavrov added that the African delegation did not bring the Russian leader any message from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said that Putin had shown interest in the plan outlined by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in his presentation and that Russia would continue dialogue with African countries.
The African peace mission includes South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Comoros President Azali Assoumani, Senegalese President Macky Sall, Zambian President Hakainde Hichilema, as well as Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and several top diplomats from the Republic of Congo and Uganda.
Earlier, on June 16, the delegation visited Kiev, where they held talks with President Zelenskyy. On June 17, the African delegation held a meeting with Mr. Putin in St. Petersburg, where they presented their peace initiative.
Huy Hoang (according to TASS, RIA Novosti, Reuters)
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