Why African leaders shunned Vladimir Putin’s summit

Vladimir Putinun has never been so diplomatically isolated. Few heads of state have visited him since his invasion of Ukraine last year. So when African leaders arrived in St Petersburg on July 27th for the second Russia-Africa summit, it was something of a coup—so to speak—for Russia’s president. Yet the turnout shows the limits to Russia’s sway on the continent. Reports suggest that just 17 African leaders travelled, less than half the 43 who went to the first bash in 2019.The showing underlines Africa’s ambivalence towards Russia. Of Africa’s 54 countries, 19 backed Ukraine in most of the five votes on the war at the General Assembly in the first year of the conflict, versus just two that did the same with Russia. But overall, African states abstained or did not show up on 52% of occasions.