Russian President Vladimir Putin is due to meet the leaders of a number of African countries in St. Petersburg on Saturday as they continue their peace delegation.
The talks follow a chaotic visit to Kiev on Friday, in which the South African delegation suffered travel disruption in Poland.
While South African President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived at Kiev's Nemeshaevo railway station in the capital's suburbs and was received by Ukraine's special envoy to Africa and the Middle East, Ambassador Maksim Subkh, and South African Ambassador to Ukraine Andre Grunewald, his accompanying team was less fortunate, with security guards and some journalists getting stuck at Warsaw airport for a day.
Polish border police has claimed that the disruption occurred after security guards voluntarily remained on the plane due to a lack of permission to bring weapons into the country. Officials made no mention of the journalists.
The head of the South African presidential guard Major General Wally Rhoode accused the Polish government of trying to disrupt President Ramaphosa's peace mission and said the president's life was "endangered."
Meanwhile, the pool of reporters complained that they, too, were not let off the plane at Warsaw airport and ended up spending the night on it. The crew of the South African airline SAA reportedly bought them food.
On Friday evening, TimesLIVE reporter Amanda Hoza stated that journalists had been let off the plane for the first time in 24 hours.
Talks in Kiev
Following the talks in Kiev, Ramaphosa reported that the delegation had urged Zelensky to end the conflict as soon as possible.
In turn, Zelensky told press during a joint press conference with Ramaphosa that he would not "open the second volume" of the Minsk agreements with Russia. He also said that he rejected the idea of any negotiations with Moscow, as long as Russian troops are stationed on the ground.
One diplomatic source close to the talks told Sputnik that the African leaders put forward a number of undisclosed proposals to Kiev and that the conversation was "a very sincere and frank exchange of views."
For his part, South African presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya stated on Friday that the visit was going "well" and "as planned," and that South African authorities maintained contact with their Polish counterparts about the incident at the airport.
He also stated that despite an announced air alert and Western and Ukrainian reports about explosions in the city, the members of the delegation did not hear any explosions or sirens. According to him, the residents calmly walked the streets of Kiev.
A Mission of Peace
The founder of the Brazzaville Foundation and initiator of the mission, Jean-Yves Olivier, told Sputnik earlier that the main goal of the African countries' mission is to initiate and help establish dialogue between the two countries.
He noted that the African delegation's talks will be held without preconditions, and the mission itself is the first of its kind which both Putin and Zelensky have agreed to accept.
Moscow has repeatedly indicated that it is ready for negotiations, but Kiev has imposed a legislative ban on them. Zelensky earlier said at the G20 that "there will be no Minsk-3," words which, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, "absolutely confirm" Kiev's unwillingness to negotiate.
Meanwhile, Western press has constantly called on Russia to negotiate yet ignored Kiev's refusals to do the same.
Russian Permanent Representative to the UN Vassily Nebenzya said in an interview with Sputnik that Moscow is ready to consider Kiev's proposals for a settlement, taking into account the proposals of the Russian side and the situation "on the ground."
Earlier, the Kremlin stated that there are no prerequisites for the transition of the situation in Ukraine to a peaceful course, but that the absolute priority for Russia is to achieve the goals of the special military operation, and at the moment this is possible only by military means.
The EU has already stated that it will not support the initiative of African leaders on Ukraine if it involves freezing the conflict.
Grain Deal on the Table
Ukraine is not the only topic to be discussed by the African leaders and Russian president. Negotiations are expected to also focus on the Black Sea grain deal, and more precisely, its future.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, which was signed on July 22, 2022, by representatives of Russia, Turkiye, Ukraine and the UN, involves the export of Ukrainian grain, food and fertilizer across the Black Sea from three ports, including Odessa. The coordination of vessel traffic is handled by the Joint Coordination Center in Istanbul.
The second part of the deal - the three-year Russia-UN memorandum - provides for the unblocking of Russian exports of food and fertilizers, the reconnection of the Russian Agricultural Bank to SWIFT, the resumption of supplies of agricultural machinery, spare parts and services, the restoration of the Togliatti-Odessa ammonia pipeline and a number of other measures.
Russia has repeatedly argued that these conditions have not been met - only a small part of the grain is sent to countries in need, such as those in Africa and the markets for Russian fertilizers have not been opened.
In addition, Putin has previously stated that the corridors along which grain ships travel are constantly used to launch marine drones. Recently, Kiev drones tried to attack a Russian warship that was guarding the Turkish Stream gas pipeline.
African leaders are reportedly interested in a permanent supply of grain and are concerned that this has not yet been possible under the current deal.
During his speech at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Putin assured that Russia would participate in ensuring global food security and provide assistance to food-deficient countries, including African ones. He added that Russian suppliers will update the record for the supply of wheat to foreign markets this year.