roger it s not russia s fault. you know, roger weht it s not russia s fault. you know, roger went into this grain deal in good roger went into this grain deal in good faith roger went into this grain deal in good faith and what was promised to russia good faith and what was promised to russia in good faith and what was promised to russia in return was not carried out, russia in return was not carried out, there russia in return was not carried out, there was no help he said in helping out, there was no help he said in helping to export russian grain and russian helping to export russian grain and russian fertilisers so russia pulled out of russian fertilisers so russia pulled out of the russian fertilisers so russia pulled out of the deal. and he offered to provide out of the deal. and he offered to provide free grain to six african countries provide free grain to six african countries. so that was his sort of pr performance today at the summit. but wagner oversh
today. it s a smaller group of african leaders that have come. will they be preoccupied with macro choose return to the compton and or are there concerns in other directions? are there concerns in other directions? . . ., ~ directions? wagner. i don t think ou will directions? wagner. i don t think you will be directions? wagner. i don t think you will be talking directions? wagner. i don t think you will be talking publicly - directions? wagner. i don t think you will be talking publicly about. you will be talking publicly about wagheh you will be talking publicly about wagner. certainly publicly food security wagner. certainly publicly food security or food insecurity is being talked security or food insecurity is being talked about. obviously food prices are a talked about. obviously food prices are a concern to african leaders. after are a concern to african leaders. after russia s full scale invasion of ukraine after russia s full scale invasion of ukrai
we are still gathering facts here. and that government, as you know, is led by president bazoum. we specifically urge the elements of the presidential guard to release him from detention and to refrain from any violence. this further complicates western efforts to restore stability to the west african region known as the sahel. when neighbouring mali chose to partner up with russia s wagner group in place of the french government, paris moved its centre of operations in the region to niger. the governments in burkina faso, central african republic and mali have all decided they would rather work with russia s wagner mercenaries than any western force. the timing is interesting because it comes as african leaders gather in st petersburg for a summit with vladimir putin, and just a day after a parliamentary report here in the uk concluded that british efforts to counter wagner and its influence in africa were underwelming in the extreme . one man who provided evidence for that report is