Three Questions Africa Should Ask Before Flying to Moscow ‎

On October 28 and 29, African leaders are expected in Moscow for the third Russia-Africa summit. It is billed as a partnership of equals. Three details suggest something less balanced.

Why has the summit never been held in Africa?

The 2019 Sochi declaration set a simple rule: meet every three years, alternating between Russia and an African host. The second summit was scheduled for Addis Ababa in October 2022, but it was postponed and moved to St Petersburg in July 2023.

The third has been fixed in Moscow by presidential decree. A partnership whose venue, calendar and agenda are set by one side invites the obvious question of who is partnering with

whom.
Attendance tells its own story. Forty-three heads of state or government came to Sochi in 2019. Seventeen came to St Petersburg in 2023. Moscow blames Western pressure and travel complications. African capitals may simply be weighing what they get in return.

Is it safe to go?
The article I have been working from reports that Moscow faced its largest drone attack of the war on the night of September 19–20, with mayor Sergei Sobyanin quoted as saying more than 1,600 drones were intercepted on the approaches to the capital. It also says Air Tanzania briefly suspended its new Dar es Salaam–Moscow route in early September, and that Europe's aviation safety agency advises airlines to avoid Russian airspace west of 60° East.

Gabon's leadership is reported to have decided not to travel. Those claims come from one source, and some rest on anonymous officials, so treat them as reported, not confirmed.

The underlying point stands regardless. The risk to civilian aviation in a war zone comes not from deliberate targeting but from crowded skies and air defences, as MH17 and Azerbaijan Airlines flight 8243 showed. Any delegation planning the trip has to make a security assessment, and that is a legitimate question for a head of state to ask.

Why does the host not travel?
The same article reports that Vladimir Putin has not visited Africa since the 2018 BRICS summit in Johannesburg. In 2023 he joined South Africa's BRICS summit by video link after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him, which makes travel legally fraught for states party to the Rome Statute. Whatever the reason, the travelling in this partnership goes one way.

The balance sheet
Putin set a target of $40 billion in Russia-Africa trade at Sochi. The article cites Russian figures of $27.7 billion for 2025 and says Russia accounts for under 1 percent of foreign investment on the continent. What has grown fastest, it argues, is Russia's security footprint in Mali, Niger and the Central African Republic. I have not verified these figures.

Ghana's position
Ghana's ambassador to Russia told TASS in May that President Mahama had agreed to attend. Ghana's stated interests include agribusiness, energy, pharmaceuticals and digital technology. But a source close to the Ghanaian delegation, quoted in the article, put the concern bluntly: the numbers do not add up, the Sahel situation is spilling over onto Ghana's northern borders, and "political stability" should come before artificial intelligence and alternative-currency settlements, which are Lavrov's priorities.

As I wrote in my earlier column on bread, Ghana's own vulnerabilities, from wheat to northern security, are the agenda it should bring to Moscow.

What African delegations should press for

A hosting rotation in writing, with a date for a summit in Africa.

Concrete trade and investment commitments with numbers and timelines, not declarations.

Transparency on security cooperation, including what has been delivered and at what cost to African communities.

Food and fertiliser access on terms that do not deepen dependence.

The Afrobarometer figures cited in the piece show 36 percent of Africans view Russia's influence positively, 23 percent negatively and 42 percent have no view. That undecided middle is who this summit is meant to win. It deserves to know what is on the table before its leaders board the plane.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,

International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. (USIP)

[email protected]
+233555275880
Sources
The Business & Financial Times: "President Mahama to attend Russia-Africa summit" (May 29, 2026)

TASS: "Ghana president to visit Russia in October to attend Russia-Africa summit ambassador" (May 15, 2026)

Wikipedia: "2019 Russia–Africa Summit" and "2023 Russia–Africa Summit" (attendance, rescheduling)

The Times of Russia: "Russia-Africa Summit 2026 Participating Countries" (July 20, 2026). A Russian outlet, so treat confirmation figures as Moscow's claim.