KRONSHTADT, July 30. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin said goodbye to African leaders after a boat tour from St. Petersburg to Kronshtadt.

"Kronshtadt once housed the main forces of the Baltic Fleet. Now they are deployed in Kaliningrad," Putin said at the entrance to the newly opened Naval Glory Museum. He said he had already visited the museum ahead of today’s opening (he visited it together with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on July 23). "I suggest you walk about the exhibition," Putin said. "The defense minister [Sergey Shoigu] and the fleet’s commander [Nikolay Yevmenov] will accompany you. I would like to thank you for being with us over these three days."

"Thanks to our friendship, thanks to our relations, we have held this event (the Russia-Africa summit - TASS) and have created a good basis for further movement. We will implement everything we have agreed about," Putin said and shook hands with each of them.

The foreign guests taking part in the boat tour included President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Mali’s Interim President Assimi Goita, President of Eritrea Isaias Afwerki and Interim President of Burkina Faso Ibrahim Traore. The heads of the delegations of another three African states, namely, the deputy chairman of the Sovereign Council of Sudan, the prime minister of the United Republic of Tanzania and the vice president of Equatorial Guinea were also aboard the Russian presidential boat.

All of them participated in the second Russia-Africa summit that took place in St. Petersburg on July 27-28.