Kenya’s president, William Ruto, shows two sides

He is a master of inscrutability. While his face often wears a smile, a glance at William Ruto’s eyes suggests it is rarely a warm one. A year after he came to power, working out whether Kenya’s president is grinning or snarling depends on where one is standing.Seen from the West, Mr Ruto is a dependable ally. No other African government was as openly critical of Vladimir Putin’s withdrawal from a deal that let Ukrainian grain pass unmolested through the Black Sea, a move Mr Ruto’s foreign ministry called “a stab in the back”. While 17 other African heads of state hurried to a summit with Mr Putin in July, Mr Ruto hung back.