On the phone, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin discussed the impending peace mission to Russia and Ukraine by six African leaders, and Putin expressed his readiness to meet the delegation, the South African presidency said in a statement.
"President Putin has welcomed the initiative by African Heads of State and expressed his desire to receive the peace mission," the statement said, adding that the conversation took place after the discussion between the African leaders.
A conference "exploring ways of bringing an end to the conflict" had taken place on Tuesday amongst the involved African leaders. According to a statement released by the presidency earlier this week, the other leaders involved in the peace effort are from the Comoros, Egypt, Senegal, Uganda, and Zambia. All of them stated that they would be free to go in the middle of June.
However, with the Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni testing positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and being forced to take a leave, the Ugandan leader's trip to Europe remains an open question.
The foreign ministers of the countries involved in the mission were now finalizing the components of a road map for peace.
A summit between Russia and Africa will take place towards the end of July in St. Petersburg, Russia.