ST. PETERSBURG, July 28. /TASS/. Russia will continue training military and law-enforcement personnel of African countries at its specialized educational institutions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a plenary session of the Russia-Africa summit on Friday.

"The continent’s development is hindered by terrorism, the spread of extremist ideology, transnational crime and piracy. Russia also offers its assistance in countering these threats. We are interested in the closest cooperation between the law-enforcement agencies and special services of the Russian Federation and African countries. We are determined to continue training military and law-enforcement personnel of African countries at Russian specialized educational institutions," Putin said.

Presently, military personnel from many African states are undergoing training at higher educational institutions of Russia’s Defense Ministry, the Russian leader said.

"For the purposes of bolstering the defense capability of the continent’s countries, we are developing partnership in the military and military-technical spheres. Russia has signed agreements on military-technical cooperation with more than 40 African states, to which we supply a broad range of armaments and hardware. Some of these deliveries are implemented on a gratuitous basis to bolster the security and sovereignty of these states," Putin pointed out.

Also, African representatives actively participate in military-technical forums and drills held by Russia where they familiarize themselves with advanced weapon systems and military hardware and the experience of their use, the Russian president added.

The situation in many regions of Africa remains unstable today due to the legacy of the colonial epoch and the West’s 'divide and rule' policy, Putin pointed out.

"It also has to be acknowledged that the situation in many regions of Africa still remains unstable, interethnic and ethnic conflicts have not been settled and acute political and socio-economic crises persist. This is, of course, the difficult legacy of the colonial epoch and the ‘divide and rule’ policy that Western colonial powers pursued in Africa," the Russian leader said.

The second Russia-Africa summit is running at the Expoforum exhibition center in St. Petersburg on July 27-28. Concurrently, the summit’s economic and humanitarian forum has been organized. Similar to the first Russia-Africa summit held in 2019, the current event is running under the motto: "For Peace, Security and Development."

The event has been organized by the Roscongress Foundation. TASS is an information partner of the summit and the forum and the event’s photo hosting agency and is also hosting the second Russia-Africa media forum.