MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Tuesday accused the West, and in particular the United States, of trying to sabotage its showcase Russia-Africa summit later this week by pressuring African countries not to take part.
The summit, which will take place in St. Petersburg on Thursday and Friday, will be attended by President Vladimir Putin who is expected to hold intensive one-on-one talks with individual African leaders focusing on everything from trade to security, arms deals, and grain supplies.
The event, which is expected to see various agreements signed, follows Moscow’s first Russia-Africa summit in 2019 and is part of a concerted push for influence and business on a continent where mercenaries from Russia’s Wagner Group remain active despite an abortive mutiny at home last month.
Forty-nine African delegations have confirmed their participation, around half of whom will be represented by their heads of state or government, Russian diplomat Alexander Polyakov was cited as saying by the state TASS news agency earlier this month.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the West was doing its best to wreck the Russian event.
“Virtually all African states have been subjected to unprecedented pressure from the US, and French embassies on the ground have not been sleeping either along with other Western missions who are also trying to do their bit to prevent this summit from taking place,” Peskov told reporters.
“In essence, they do not accept the sovereign right of African states to independently determine their partners for co-operation and mutual interaction in various fields.”
US President Joe Biden hosted a US-Africa leaders summit in Washington last year, seeking to bolster alliances amid growing Russian and Chinese presence on the continent.
Speaking in April after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov complained the West was trying to wreck this week’s Russia-Africa summit, the US State Department said that Washington “(doesn’t) want to limit African partnerships with other countries. We want to give African countries choices.”
Peskov said Russia’s event would be crucial to be able to discuss grain supplies and what he called Moscow’s responsible behavior and efforts to support world markets.
Moscow announced last week that it was leaving the Black Sea grain deal which allowed Ukraine — which it and much of the West say is fighting an existential war against Russia — to safely export grain from its seaports despite what Russia calls its “special military operation” against it.
Russia has spoken of the possibility of supplying cheap or free grain to Africa’s poorest nations to replace Ukrainian grain and make up for any shortfall.
Kremlin accuses West of trying to sabotage its showcase Russia-Africa summit
https://arab.news/4sahp
Kremlin accuses West of trying to sabotage its showcase Russia-Africa summit
- President Vladimir Putin is expected to hold intensive one-on-one talks with individual African leaders focusing on everything
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the West was doing its best to wreck the Russian event
In rare overlap, Chinese Muslims observe Ramadan with Lunar New Year
- Lunar New Year started on Feb. 17 and is celebrated for another two weeks
- Chinese Indonesians make up about 3 percent of the Indonesian population
JAKARTA: Every year, on the first day of Lunar New Year, Febriani visits relatives and gathers for a feast with her Chinese Muslim family, part of a long-standing tradition honoring their ethnic heritage.
But this year, as Thursday marks the beginning of Ramadan, she is celebrating two important occasions within the same week, in a rare overlap that last took place in 1995.
“I’m very happy and grateful that Lunar New Year and Ramadan are celebrated so closely. I observe both every year, so it’s truly special,” she told Arab News.
Widely observed across Asia, the Lunar New Year or Chinese New Year festival is believed to date back to the 14th century B.C., to the times of the Shang Dynasty, China’s earliest ruling dynasty, when people celebrated good harvests.
In 2026, it started on Feb. 17 and is celebrated for another two weeks. For many, celebrations typically involve elaborate feasts, giving children pocket money in red envelopes, and watching dragon dance parades.
In Indonesia, Chinese-descent citizens make up an estimated 3 percent of the country’s Muslim-majority population of more than 280 million. While most are either Buddhists or Christians, a small minority professes Islam.
For 25-year-old Febriani, both Lunar New Year and Ramadan are equally meaningful.
“The two celebrations teach us to strengthen bonds, to share with one another, and to become closer to family,” she said.
“They are both important to me because they happen only once every year and they’re always an occasion to gather with the extended family. It is also a chance to self-reflect and strengthen relationships with your loved ones.”
For Naga Kunadi, whose family lives in Central Java’s Cepu district, Chinese New Year is all about embracing his ethnic identity.
Earlier in the week, his family was busy preparing for the new year’s feast, which was a fusion of Chinese and Indonesian dishes, such as claypot tofu, meatball soup and shumai, or steamed dumplings.
“To celebrate Chinese New Year, we prepared halal Chinese food at home. It’s also a way to introduce to my children the traditions from our Chinese side, but there’s a bit of a fusion because my wife is Javanese,” Kunadi told Arab News.
Kunadi, an Islamic teacher at the Lautze Mosque in Jakarta, sees both Chinese New Year and Ramadan as opportunities to teach important life values for his two children.
Upholding Chinese New Year traditions with his family is for him a way of preserving his ethnic heritage.
“We want to preserve cultural values as long as it does not clash with our religion,” he said.
“If we leave our culture behind, we might lose our identity, so this is something I want to teach my children.”
The fasting month of Ramadan, on the other hand, gives him a chance to teach and practice honesty.
“I want to focus on the religious and moral aspects during the holy month of Ramadan, when we practice honesty on a personal level,” Kunadi said.
“There’s always an opportunity to eat or snack in secret without anybody knowing, but we train ourselves not to do that. For me, Ramadan is a time for everyone to put honesty into practice, including myself and my children.”
