APA-Harare (Zimbabwe) Russian President Vladimir Putin has donated a helicopter to his Zimbabwean counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa on the sidelines of the ongoing 2nd Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, the southern African country’s information ministry announced Thursday.
The ministry said the donation was made during a bilateral meeting between Mnangagwa and Putin on Thursday and is an example of the “great fraternal relations” between the two countries.
“His Excellency President Putin has given His Excellency President Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa a presidential helicopter,” the ministry wrote on microblogging site Twitter.
Mnangagwa is among several leaders attending a two-day Russia-Africa summit that is being touted as a test of Putin’s support in the continent amid a Western backlash following his invasion of Ukraine last year.
The Russian leader also pledged to provide free grain to six African countries where Moscow’s influence has grown in recent years.
Speaking during the official opening of the summit, Putin said Russia would deliver between 25,000 and 50,000 tonnes of grain free of charge to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea.
Critics say Putin is using the summit as a piece of diplomatic theatre designed to portray Russia as a great power with many global friends, despite its destabilizing war in Ukraine.
JN/APA