Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted dozens of African leaders at a two-day Russia-Africa summit on Wednesday, seeking to expand Moscow's influence and build a multipolar world to end Western domination.
Putin called for strengthening Africa's decision-making role at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group, highlighting Russia's grain and fertilizer supplies to over 40 African countries.
The summit-previously held in 2019 and 2023-drew 48 African nations, including about 20 heads of state. Competing with the US, Europe, and China across a continent of 1.6 billion people and 54 UN voting nations, Moscow relies on military contractors for economic, political, and security sway.
In the Sahel, junta-led Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso severed Western ties, replacing the Wagner group with the Russian Defense Ministry's Africa Corps, which helped Niger's junta defeat an August troop mutiny in its capital. Between 1,700 and 2,000 Russian mercenaries operate across the three Sahel nations, alongside roughly 1,000 contractors in the Central African Republic.