ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Some African leaders arrived in Russia on Wednesday for a summit with President Vladimir Putin as the Kremlin seeks more allies amid the fighting in Ukraine.

Putin has billed the two-day summit that opens Thursday in St. Petersburg as a major event that would help bolster ties with a continent of 1.3 billion people that is increasingly assertive on the global stage.

On Wednesday, Putin is set to hold separate meetings with the leaders of Egypt and Ethiopia ahead of the summit.

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Africa’s 54 nations make up the largest voting bloc at the United Nations and have been more divided than any other region on General Assembly resolutions criticizing Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

It’s the second Russia-Africa summit since 2019, and the number of heads of states attending shrank from 43 then to 17 now because of what the Kremlin described as a crude Western pressure to discourage African nations from attending it.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov deplored “unconcealed brazen interference by the U.S., France and other states through their diplomatic missions in African countries, and attempts to put pressure on the leadership of these countries in order to prevent their active participation in the forum.”

“It’s absolutely outrageous, but it will in no way prevent the success of the summit,” Peskov said in a conference call with reporters.

Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said that while only 17 heads of state will attend the summit, 32 other African countries will be represented by senior government officials or ambassadors.

The summit follows Russia’s withdrawal from a deal that allowed Black Sea exports, vital to many African countries, a move that drew a strong condemnation around the world and raised new threats to global food security.

Russia shrugged off criticism and doubled down by launching a barrage of missile attacks on Ukrainian ports and agriculture facilities.

At the same time, Putin has repeatedly pledged that Russia would offer free grain to low-income African countries now that the grain deal has been terminated.

“I want to give assurances that our country is capable of replacing the Ukrainian grain both on a commercial and free-of-charge basis,” Putin said in a statement Monday, asserting that Russia shipped almost 10 million tons of grain to Africa in the first half of the year.

Along with grain, another issue that will likely figure on the talks’ agenda will be the fate of Russia’s Wagner military company led by Yevgeny Prigozhin following its brief rebellion against the Kremlin last month. Wagner’s future will be an urgent issue for countries like Sudan, Mali and others who contract with the mercenary group in exchange for natural resources like gold. Russian officials and Prigozhin have said the company will continue working in Africa.

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