MOSCOW, June 14. /TASS/. On June 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin will receive a delegation of African countries in St. Petersburg to discuss their peace initiative in Ukraine, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov told reporters on Wednesday.

He specified that on June 16, the African delegation will be in Kiev.

"On Saturday, June 17, a very important international meeting will take place - the Russian President will receive a delegation of African states in St. Petersburg to discuss the African initiative for a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict," the Kremlin official said.

According to him, "the parties negotiated on possible dates for the visit of the African delegation several times."

"It was not easy, because this delegation consists of the leaders of seven African countries," Ushakov explained. He specified that "the delegation of countries will be headed by the President of the Union of the Comoros [Azzali Assoumani] due to the fact that he is the chairman of the African Union, the delegation will include [South African President Cyril] Ramaphosa as one of the active authors of the concept of negotiations, the presidents of Zambia, the Republic of the Congo, Senegal, Uganda [Hakainde Hichilema, Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Macky Sall, Yoweri Kaguta Museveni] and the Prime Minister of Egypt [Mostafa Madbouly]."

"Before that, the African delegation will visit Kiev, that is, on June 16 they will hold talks with the Ukrainian leadership and also present their views, listen to [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky's assessments, and then, against this background, a detailed conversation with our president will take place," the Kremlin spokesman said.

Ushakov recalled that the African initiative "was first announced by the President of South Africa, and discussed several times over the phone between him and Putin.

"One can imagine how difficult it is to organize a visit for such a delegation, which includes seven countries, six of them at the highest level, Egypt - at a very high level, but everything has been agreed," the Kremlin official said.

According to him, "in the preliminary plan, the content of the African initiative was discussed in the course of Putin's telephone contacts with the President of South Africa."

"But now the conversation will be more specific," the Kremlin spokesman said.

About two initiatives

Ushakov did not compare the African and Chinese initiatives for the Ukrainian settlement.

"The Chinese initiative was very actively discussed, it has been given great importance due to the author of this initiative - the People's Republic of China, a highly authoritative country," he said.

Speaking about the African initiative, Ushakov drew attention to the fact that "African leaders agreed among themselves, first of all, that they would create a delegation that would be ready to go to both Kiev and Moscow."

"This proposal, without any specific content, was voiced during one of the conversations between Putin and the President of South Africa. We immediately said:" Of course, if you are ready to talk with us, then we will never refuse to do this, welcome, come visit us," said the aide to the Russian leader. He specified that the concrete ideas for the African initiative were worded by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Africa.

"But how much they are shared by all seven African states, I don’t know, that is, the degree of preparation of this initiative is not yet sufficiently known to me," Ushakov admitted. In his opinion, "it's tricky, because the seven states had to meet somewhere, specifically discuss it, agree on it."

"Whether it happened or all this will take shape during the trip, I don't know," he said.