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Top stories from the Russian press on Friday, July 28th, prepared by TASS

Putin outlines vision for Russia-Africa cooperation at St. Petersburg summit; China, Turkey seeking ways to revive Black Sea grain deal; and Niger’s president ousted in military coup. These stories topped Friday’s newspaper headlines across Russia.

Izvestia: Putin outlines vision for Russia-Africa cooperation at summit

In the coming months, Russia is prepared to deliver from 25,000 to 50,000 tons of grain to several African countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a plenary session of the Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum in St. Petersburg on July 27. In addition, he castigated Western countries for hindering Russian agricultural exports while "hypocritically pinning the blame" on Moscow for the global food crisis. He also addressed switching to using national currencies in trade relations and the relevant issues involved, as well as expanding educational exchanges. On the same day, the Russian president held a number of talks with officials representing various African countries.

Despite Western sanctions, cooperation between Russia and Africa is expanding, including in the agricultural sector, Vladimir Prokhorov, member of the Delovaya Rossiya (Business Russia) trade association’s general council, told Izvestia.

"The attempt to exploit the grain deal theme to favor the interests of pro-Western elites has only played into our hands and enabled [us] to develop new partner relationships and bolster existing ties. It’s a well-known fact that Africa holds at least 30% of all global natural resources, which historically Europe and the US have fought over. As for Russia, [we have] shown that [we are] interested in a partnership relationship, and not in a colonial relationship," the expert asserted.

"It is clear that the African continent, due to a combination of factors, is emerging as one of the world’s key regions. First of all, this is being driven by the growing consumption of goods and services. Russia must develop and expand its presence there, including through opening trade missions and representative offices for both economic and humanitarian initiatives. The options for working together include traditional forms of cooperation in industry, logistics, agriculture and mining," Mikhail Makarov, director of the international office of the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), told the newspaper.

Education can also play an important part in expanding the presence of Russian businesses in the African market, Viktoria Panova, vice rector at the Higher School of Economics (HSE University), told Izvestia.

"Such world-renowned [Russian] companies as Alrosa, Lukoil, Gazprom, Rosatom, Rosneft, Evraz, Severstal, Rusal and others now have active operations in Africa. Several of them, such as the Rosatom state [nuclear power] corporation and Rusal, have programs offering various grants or scholarships to African applicants for studies or internships at Russian universities with subsequent employment at their enterprises," the expert noted.

Nezavisimaya Gazeta: Beijing, Ankara seeking to breathe new life into grain deal

Wang Yi, who has returned to head China’s Foreign Ministry after Qin Gang stepped down suddenly, paid his first visit as foreign minister to Turkey. During talks in Ankara with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, the officials discussed, among other items, events in Ukraine and the possibilities for transporting grain over the Black Sea. According to reports by media outlets from both countries, neither party took the side of the West, which has accused Russia of undermining the Black Sea Initiative grain deal. However, no agreement on resolving the deadlock was reached.

As Reuters reiterated, the deal, which allowed Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea, was signed with mediation by the UN and Turkey. The US and several European countries have been urging China to attempt to influence Russia to return to the grain export agreements as well as to cease military action in Ukraine.

In a conversation with Nezavisimaya Gazeta, Alexander Lukin, research director of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, noted: "It is possible to revive the grain deal. In order to do so, it is necessary to eliminate those factors that compelled Russia to come out against extending it. Russia was fulfilling the terms of the deal; the Western countries were not. If Beijing and Ankara manage to attain [Western] compliance with [Russia’s] conditions, grain deliveries will resume. However, this is hardly likely. As for the conflict in Ukraine, which was also discussed in Ankara, then the West has been trying for some time to induce China to adopt a position that is more distant from Russia. I think that the speculation that Erdogan was trying to entice the Chinese to change their approach is just a rumor, [nothing more than] misinformation. China has proposed a 12-point peace plan. According to the plan, a truce is needed, followed by negotiations. The West has rejected it. In my view, no outside force could succeed in persuading China to alter its course. China makes its own decisions."

Vedomosti: Niger's president ousted in coup, but supported by key neighbors, African Union

Military personnel from Niger’s presidential guard announced on July 27 that incumbent President Mohamed Bazoum had been removed from office. Earlier, on July 26, the military attempted to stage a coup d’etat, detaining Bazoum and his family in the presidential palace.

According to pan-African newsweekly Jeune Afrique (Young Africa), the president is unharmed and continues to negotiate with the mutineers. The AlHadath TV channel reported that Bazoum refused to sign resignation papers and appealed via Twitter to the Nigerien people for support.

The evisceration of Libya in 2011 had the effect of destabilizing the entire Sahara-Sahel region because it unleashed an enormous flood of weapons into the area, Stanislav Mezentsev, senior researcher at the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute for African Studies, said. The region has traditionally been France’s exclusive sphere of influence, but Paris has begun to lose ground of late, in part due to the martial success of Russia’s Wagner Private Military Company (PMC) in ensuring security in Niger’s troubled neighbors, the Central African Republic and Mali, he added. Potentially, this was one of the key factors that drove the Nigerien military to decide to overthrow the pro-French president. According to the expert, the country itself currently lacks any forces capable of standing up to the military and removing them from the ruling position that they have seized. However, the rest of Africa will react negatively to the military takeover and it is entirely possible that harsh statements and even sanctions by the African Union will be forthcoming, the expert concluded.

Izvestia: Rome on holiday as Italian premier visits Biden in Washington

On July 27, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni paid her first official visit to Washington. She and US President Joe Biden have a wide-ranging agenda of issues to discuss, but the subject of interactions with Beijing stand out in particular, given the US-China standoff. The expert community stressed that Washington is trying to prevent any rapprochement between Italy and China. That said, Meloni’s US visit and meeting with Biden are also important for the Italian premier herself because they could help burnish her image back home in Italy, where she is considered to be the first politician from the far right to hold power since World War II.

Saeed Khan of Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, noted that NATO’s cohesion and long-term future as well as continuing aid to the Kiev regime constitute the common key agenda being discussed by many European leaders. That said, according to Jeremy Kuzmarov, editor-in-chief of Covert Action magazine, the US government is getting nervous over its waning global authority and the sagging enthusiasm among European populations for the EU’s full-throated support for Ukraine.

In his opinion, Washington wants to ensure the backing of European leaders despite the fact that their citizenries have grown weary of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, which has dealt a harsh economic blow to Europe as a whole. He explained to Izvestia that Meloni’s visit was important because the Biden administration is trying to shore up the coalition of countries providing aid to Ukraine.

However, despite the fact that aid to the Kiev regime has been the major theme of practically all meetings between Western politicians for some time, on this occasion China appears to be at the top of the agenda. Khan notes that China’s economic, military and geopolitical might is viewed by many European countries as a serious problem but, at the same time, they wish to see China’s trade relations with the EU remain strong.

According to Kuzmarov, one of Biden’s main goals at these talks is to induce the Italian premier to reject China’s Belt and Road Initiative, Italy’s agreement on which was signed with Beijing by then-Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in 2019. He pointed out that, at that time, Meloni’s predecessor wished to support this initiative wherein China provides economic assistance and tries to stimulate development in many countries and interaction with them. Kuzmarov thinks that Biden would like for Meloni to withdraw Italy from this agreement and instead join an anti-Chinese alliance.

Kommersant: Russian automaker AvtoVAZ plans to set up hub in Egypt for automotive exports

AvtoVAZ, a major state-owned Russian auto manufacturer, is returning to Egypt’s market for the second time and seeks to resume auto manufacturing operations in the North African country. Previous operations were suspended in 2022 due to the crisis and sanctions against Russia, although, until then, a local company had been producing AvtoVAZ models since 2002 with a pause in 2013-2015 triggered by the unstable situation in Egypt. Thus far, the Egyptian market, much like the African market in general, is extremely small (1% of the global market), while AvtoVAZ deliveries to the country in 2021 totaled a mere 3,000 vehicles. AvtoVAZ views the project as having future potential for exporting to neighboring countries.

AvtoVAZ President and CEO Maxim Sokolov said that the company seeks to resume production of Lada Granta automobiles at the Al Amal factory in Egypt. At a session of the Russia-Africa Summit, he said: "Our main task now is to resume and further develop this joint project, and, among other things, we hope that Egypt, the Al Amal company, can become such a transport and logistics hub for the entire African continent."

Automotive expert Igor Morzharetto noted that the Lada Granta could be of interest in the Egyptian and African markets as one of the least expensive cars worldwide, which complies with contemporary consumer needs and preferences. That said, the level of competition in the region is rather high, which may actually serve to limit its sales.