"I would like to note right before our eyes the African continent is becoming a new center of power, its political and economic role is growing exponentially. And everyone will have to reckon with this objective reality," Putin said at the Russia-Africa summit.
The Russian president added that ideas of freedom, integrity and sovereignty shared by African leaders are now important during "establishment of multipolar world order."
On West Colonial Past and Present
Putin stressed that some manifestations of colonialism have still not been eliminated, with former metropolises still practicing it.
"Unfortunately, some manifestations of colonialism have still not been eliminated and are being practiced by former metropolises in the economy, information and humanitarian areas," Vladimir Putin said.
Putin added that unstable situation in many African countries is a direct result of a tough legacy of colonialism.
"We also have to admit that the situation in many regions of Africa is still unstable. State and ethnic conflicts have not been resolved, acute political and socio-economic crises persist. This, of course, is a heavy legacy of the colonial era, the ‘divide and conquer’ method that the Western metropolises pursued in Africa," Putin said at the Russia-Africa summit.
He added that some countries are now changing international norms and use them for their own selfish interests.
"We cannot agree with the replacement of international law by the so-called order based on rules that some countries themselves declare, but they themselves constantly distort, change, shuffle [these norms]," Putin stressed.
On Russo-African Relations and Foreign Policy
Russia is ready to open new diplomatic missions and increase its diplomatic staff in African countries, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
"Russia's attention to Africa is consistently growing, and our plans to increase diplomatic presence on the continent show it. We are ready to open and reopen diplomatic missions and increase staff in a number of existing embassies," Putin said at the Russia-Africa summit.
He added that Russian embassies in Burkina Faso and Equatorial Guinea will resume operation in near future and stressed that Moscow would support initiatives of African countries to open new diplomatic missions in Russia.
Putin said that Russia will provide around $90 million to African countries in debt relief.
"Russia is taking part in debt relief efforts for African countries. At the moment, we have written off a total of $23 billion in debt. On recent requests of African countries, we will allocate over $90 million more for these development purposes," Vladimir Putin stressed.
On Africa Plan of Conflict Resolution in Ukraine
Commenting on Ukrainian crisis, he said that Russia treats Africa’s plans on conflict resolution in Ukraine with respect.
"Let's take, for example, the initiative of a number of African states to resolve the Ukrainian crisis. This is an acute problem, we do not avoid discussing it. This in itself says a lot, because before any intermediary missions were monopolized exclusively by countries with the so-called developed democracy. Not anymore, now Africa is also ready to help in solving problems that seem to be outside the zone of its primary interests. We respect your initiatives and consider them carefully," Putin said.