As important as the Russia-Africa summit is regarding regional issues and cooperation, UK and US-based media decided to focus on matters that served almost no importance, such as the number of presidents who attended, why Wagner was in Africa, and why Russia is to blame for the end of the Black Sea Grain Deal.
Officials and delegates from 49 African countries attended the two-day summit from July 27 to 28, resulting in a 74-point joint declaration pledging cooperation in an effort to develop a multipolar world order.
However, Western media decided to focus on headlining Kenyan diplomat Korir Sing’Oei's tweet last week that withdrawing from the grain deal was “a stab on the back at global food security prices.”
Outlets such as CBS News claimed that the “small crowd” at the summit indicated “Africa's changing mood on Moscow,” referring to remarks of a South African professor. It said, “Just 17 African heads of state, according to Russia's own tally, showed up for the summit. That’s less than half of the 43 leaders who participated in the first Russia-Africa summit in 2019,” but it failed to mention that a total of 49 African countries were represented.
On the other hand, CNN released a headline claiming that the “Kremlin seethes over poor summit turnout” and spoke of the “just 17” matter.
The Washington Post columnist Adam Taylor wrote, “Any idea that Africa as a whole leans toward Russia is clearly mistaken,” basing his comment on votes in the UN General Assembly. He also brought up “less than half of 43,” the grain deal, and Sing’Oei as well.
The Western media "forgot" to relay that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced at the summit that Russia and African countries managed to increase economic ties despite difficulties related to the COVID-19 pandemic and sanctions, with their mutual trade growing by almost 35% this year - or that it backs the initiative to grant Africa a seat at the G20.
Newsweek's headline focused on the mockery of Putin’s handshake with the Ethiopian Prime Minister by the Poland-based Telegram channel Nexta, known for its pro-Ukrainian rhetoric.
It seemed to have turned a blind eye to the fact that Putin expressed Russia's readiness to deliver 25,000-50,000 tonnes of grain to Burkina Faso, Mali, Eritrea, and a number of other African countries free of charge.
"In coming months, in coming three-four months, we will be ready to supply Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic, Eritrea with 25,000-50,000 tonnes of grain for free. We will ensure free delivery of this production to consumers as well," Putin announced at the plenary session of the Russia-Africa summit.
Time headlined "Why African Leaders Are Staying Away From Putin's Russia-Africa Summit" but instead of actually analyzing, it also echoed other outlets speaking on the grain deal, Sing’Oei, and Wagner.
HuffPo, the remaining subsidiary of Buzzfeed, headlined its news "Putin Left Red-Faced As Few African Leaders Turn Up To His Russia Summit" as they also quoted Sing’Oei and Wagner and spoke about the fallout of the grain deal while deciding to note that 49 African leaders showed up at US President Joe Biden’s "summit" last December.
The outlet credited the statement “it seems the novelty has worn off” to the Russian outlet Kommersant but was editorialized from a tweet by BBC correspondent Steve Rosenberg.
The UK press also went along with the US taking points: only 17 leaders, grain deal, “stab in the back” quote, Wagner.
For example, The Guardian said "Kremlin blames west for a small number of leaders due at Russia-Africa summit" after mentioning Biden’s December "summit" for comparison.
While The Daily Mail’s headline was "Fresh humiliation for Putin as he faces poor turnout by African leaders," it admitted that 32 more countries were represented at some level.