President Vladimir Putin told African leaders on Wednesday that Russia was their best partner, accusing what he cast as a colonial West of still trying to exploit the continent’s resources and using debt to hold back development.

The Kremlin chief was speaking at the third Russia-Africa Summit in Moscow, a two-day event attended by African leaders and government delegations from 48 countries, during which he will hold one-on-one talks with many of the 22 individual African leaders attending on everything from trade to security, arms deals and grain supplies.

The event, first held in 2019, is part of a concerted push for Russian political, economic and military influence on a continent where paramilitary fighters from Russia’s Africa Corps remain active, as Russian state media and cultural institutions try to expand their footprint in Africa, and as Russian state companies try to expand their interests in everything from mining to power generation.

Wooing African leaders and others from the Global South has also been an important part of Moscow’s strategy to counterbalance pressure on the world stage from the West over Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“Africa is increasingly asserting itself as one of the key players in the global economy and politics. However, the emergence of a multipolar world is, of course, no easy task; it faces resistance from countries that are not prepared to accept this reality: those who are accustomed to thinking in terms of their colonial past and to enriching themselves fabulously,” Putin, whom Western critics regularly accuse of trying to leverage Africa’s colonial past to Moscow’s own benefit, told the summit.

He did not name the countries he had in mind, but went on to speak about what he called “active attempts by Western countries” to drive Africans back into debt bondage and to force them to accept much-needed financial resources on predatory terms, which he said slowed their long-term development.

By contrast, Putin said Russia was ready to share its know-how, including digital know-how, and localise production rather than just buy raw materials.

“Our business does not engage in the predatory, neocolonial exploitation of natural and human resources, but rather expands the processing of raw materials locally, thereby creating new jobs and generating tax revenue,” said Putin, whose paramilitary forces have been accused by Western governments of propping up military juntas like the one in Mali to try to shore up Moscow’s own geopolitical influence and squeeze out former colonial powers like France – claims Moscow rejects.

Putin told the summit that Russia championed greater African influence in the IMF and World Bank, was ready to embark on joint transport and agricultural infrastructure projects and that a record number of Africans – around 40,000 – were currently studying at Russian universities.

Moscow also stood ready to supply grain and fertiliser to more than the 40 African countries which currently received them, added Putin, saying Russia had supplied 13 million metric tonnes of agricultural products to Africa in the first nine months of this year alone.