Putin offers to share Russia's rising grain profits

Grain is loaded aboard a cargo ship at the Azov Sea Port, Rostov region, on July 22, 2023. [AFP]

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Saturday that higher grain prices, which have risen since Russia's exit from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, will benefit Russian companies as well as the world's poorest countries.

In his effort to woo African leaders, Putin said during a news conference Saturday in St. Petersburg that Russia will share its profits from spiking grain prices with Africa and other poor countries. Russia, like Ukraine, is a major grain exporter.