African leaders in Russia to discuss peace in Ukraine

After traveling to Ukraine on Friday, a delegation of African leaders arrived in Russia on Saturday on a self-styled peace mission.

Seven African leaders, including the presidents of the Comoros, Senegal, South Africa and Zambia, as well as Egypt’s prime minister and top envoys from the Republic of Congo and Uganda - travelled to St. Petersburg to meet with Russia's President Vladimir Putin who attended a business forum in Russia's second-largest city.

The mission to Ukraine and Russia, the first of its kind by African leaders, comes in the wake of other peace initiatives such as one by China, and it carried particular importance for Africa that relies on food and fertilizer deliveries from Russia and Ukraine, whose war has blocked exports from one of the world’s most important breadbaskets.

Many African nations have long had close ties with Moscow, dating back to the Cold War when the Soviet Union supported their anti-colonial struggles.