The Vladimir Putin International Prize was launched on Thursday in Burkina Faso's capital, Ouagadougou, as part of the Spassiba ("thank you" in Russian) African Festival taking place in the West African country, where the Russian embassy has resumed its activities after a hiatus of more than three decades.
"Russia and its President Vladimir Putin have done a liberating act for our Africa," Sylvain Takoue, an Ivorian writer and the founder of the prize, said in an interview with Sputnik Africa, explaining the motives behind the award.
The Ivorian writer, who founded the movement "Total Support for Vladimir Putin in Africa" (SOTOVPOA), explained that the Russian leader had "opened the doors of the new multipolar world" to African countries "by enabling them, through closer cooperation with the Russian Federation, to move from their eternal situation of countries exploited by France and the West to an unprecedented situation of freedom of choice and national sovereignty."
The first winners of the Putin Prize have already been announced. They are three Sahelian strongmen: General Abdourahamane Tiani, in power in Niger since mid-2023, Colonel Assimi Goita, interim president of Mali, and Captain Ibrahim Traore, interim president of Burkina Faso. The prize itself will be "physically" awarded in November 2024.
The prize is aimed at "encouraging and rewarding African heads of state to lead their countries to full cultural and national sovereignty," Takoue explained, adding that it is hoped that the prize will be awarded annually.
As for the Spassiba Festival, it is "to express our full African gratitude" to Russia and its leader.
In addition to the three Sahelian rulers, other laureates were named, including Ahoua Don Mello, representative of the BRICS alliance in West and Central Africa, and pan-African artist Tiken Jah Fakoly.