Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed today, Thursday, his country's ability to replace Ukraine's grain exports to Africa, stressing Moscow's readiness to start supplying grain free of charge to six countries on the continent within three or four months.

Putin said, in a speech during the opening of the second edition of the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg in the presence of African leaders, that the countries concerned in this matter are: Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea, adding that each of them will receive between 25 and 50 thousand tons.

The summit will be held over two days, with the participation of a number of leaders of African countries, and will witness the signing of 92 agreements and memorandums of understanding worth more than one trillion rubles, and 569 meetings will be held among the participants.

On July 17, Russia withdrew from the agreement to export grain across the Black Sea, and refused to extend its implementation due to what it considered "failure to fulfill" obligations to remove obstacles to its exports of food and fertilizers. / End

Source: National Iraqi News Agency