Today in St. Petersburg, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi participated in a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders of African countries engaged in the African mediation initiative to settle the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.

Spokesman for the Presidency, Counselor Ahmad Fahmy, said the leaders followed up on the latest with regard to the African initiative to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, reiterating that Africa has a major interest to work toward ending this crisis, given the grave and enormous negative repercussions of this crisis on numerous vital sectors, including food security, energy and international financing. There was an agreement on the need to continue intensive action to push forward the African initiative by establishing the mechanisms necessary to encourage both the Russian and Ukrainian sides to engage, in earnest, in the coming period.