russia - The African Mirror

Jul

2023

Russian, Turkish ministers talk after Turkey sends Ukrainian commanders home

THE foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey spoke by telephone, a day after Ankara angered Moscow by sending five Ukrainian commanders home with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in what Russia called a violation of a prisoner exchange agreement. The Russian and Turkish foreign ministries said Sergei Lavrov and Hakan Fidan discussed the situation in Ukraine, as well as a Black Sea grain export agreement that lifted a Russian de facto blockade of Ukrainian ports last year. Moscow has threatened to quit the grain export deal when it comes up for renewal on July 17, saying demands to facilitate sales of its…

Jul

2023

By ANDRIUS SYTAS

NATO flexes muscle to protect Vilnius summit near Russia, Belarus

WORLD

NATO has turned Vilnius into a fortress defended by advanced weaponry to protect U.S. President Joe Biden and other alliance leaders meeting next week only 32 km (20 miles) from Lithuania's razor-wire topped border fence with Russian ally Belarus. Sixteen NATO allies have sent a total of about 1,000 troops to safeguard the July 11-12 summit, which will take place only 151 km (94 miles) from Russia itself. Many are also providing advanced air defence systems which the Baltic states lack. "It would be more than irresponsible to have our sky unprotected as Biden and leaders of 40 countries are…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Russia launches first overnight drone attack on Kyiv in 12 days, Ukraine military says

WORLD

PAVEL POLITYUK RUSSIA launched an overnight drone attack on Kyiv and the surrounding region after a 12-day break, with air defence systems destroying all the weapons on their approach, Ukrainian military officials said. The country's air force said that the attack included eight Iranian-made Shahed drones and three cruise missiles which were shot down. "Another enemy attack on Kyiv," Serhiy Popko, a colonel general who heads Kyiv's military administration, said in a post on the Telegram channel. Three private houses were damaged as a result of falling drone debris in the Kyiv region, injuring one person, the military head of…

Jul

2023

By The African Mirror

Ethiopia asks to join BRICS bloc of emerging economies

BUSINESS

ETHIOPIA, one of Africa's fastest-growing economies, has asked to join the BRICS bloc of emerging markets, the foreign ministry said. The term BRIC was coined by Goldman Sachs economist Jim O'Neill in 2001 to describe the rise of Brazil, Russia, India and China. The BRIC powers had their first summit in 2009 in Russia. South Africa joined in 2010. "We expect BRICS will give us a positive response to the request we have made," foreign ministry spokesman Meles Alem told journalists, according to the state-run news agency ENA. Ethiopia will continue to work with international institutions that can protect its…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

South Africa to host BRICS summit despite Putin arrest warrant

NEWS

CARIEN DU PLESSIS SOUTH Africa said it will host the BRICS bloc summit in August as planned, amid speculation that it may move to China so Russia's President Vladimir Putin can attend in a nation not obliged to arrest him on war crimes accusations. South Africa has a duty as a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest Putin if he attends the talks between the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, due to an arrest warrant over the deportation of children from Ukraine. Putin denies the charges. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met with him on…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Wagner debacle in Russia raises red flags for African states and how they manage their security

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

THE brief rebellion led against the Kremlin by the head of the Wagner mercenary forces in Russia last week sent shock waves across the world. This was no less true in Africa, where some countries have, over the last decade, turned to the Wagner group for security support. OLUWOLE OJEWALE, Regional Coordinator, Institute for Security Studies Many states in Africa are contending with multidimensional insecurity. This includes violent extremism, terrorism, insurgency, banditry, communal clashes, sea piracy, separatist violence, kidnapping and oil theft. Non-state actors have entered the scene as security providers. As a coordinator of observations of organised crime in…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Russian mercenary leader says he did not aim to overthrow government

WORLD

THE boss of Russia's Wagner mercenary group broke his silence, two days after leading an aborted mutiny, saying he had never intended to overthrow the government while giving few clues about his own fate or the deal under which he stood down. In the first public remarks released since he was last seen on Saturday night smiling and high-fiving bystanders from the back of an SUV as he withdrew from a city occupied by his men, Yevgeny Prigozhin said his fighters had halted their campaign to avert bloodshed. "We went as a demonstration of protest, not to overthrow the government…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Russia to stay in touch with African peace mission, some ideas workable – Kremlin

NEWS

THE Kremlin said that Russia would continue to talk to a group of African countries seeking to mediate in the conflict with Ukraine, notably at a Russia-Africa summit next month, and that some of their ideas were workable. President Vladimir Putin on Saturday gave the seven-country African delegation that had come to see him in St Petersburg a list of reasons why he believed many of their proposals were misguided, pouring cold water on a plan already largely dismissed by Kyiv. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that talks with the delegation would continue nonetheless as some of its suggestions…

Jun

2023

By MARK TREVELYAN

Russia reports fierce fighting as African peace mission leaves empty-handed

NEWS

RUSSIA reported fierce fighting on three sections of the front line in Ukraine, a day after hosting an African peace mission that failed to spark enthusiasm from either Moscow or Kyiv. A Russian-installed official said Ukraine had recaptured Piatykhatky, a village in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, and was entrenching itself there while coming under fire from Russian artillery. "The enemy's 'wave-like' offensives yielded results, despite enormous losses," the official, Vladimir Rogov, said on the Telegram messaging app. Russia's defence ministry made no mention of Piatykhatky in its daily update, in which it said its forces had repelled Ukrainian attacks in three…

Jun

2023

By The African Mirror

Russia-Africa relations key in the drawing of a new world order

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP

RELATIONS between Russia and the African continent have always been cordial and mutually beneficial. This trend has stood the test of time and continues to this day. ABBEY MAKOE Historically, Russia can pride itself in that it has never colonised Africa, not even an inch. When the West was involved in the “Scramble for Africa” between 1833 and 1914 when WWI broke out, the Soviet Union was assisting Africa’s liberation movements to win their battle against the “New Imperialism” of the time. Although in 1970 only ten percent of the African continent was under formal European control, by 1914 the…