On July 28, 2025, the III Russian-African Conference was held in Pretoria (South Africa) on the topic: “Realpolitik in a Divided World: Rethinking Ties between Russia and South Africa in a Global and African Context”The conference was organized by the Valdai International Discussion Club in partnership with the South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA). More than 60 experts from Egypt, Zimbabwe, Côte d'Ivoire, Russia, Tanzania and South Africa, including employees of the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, took part in the conference.
Traditionally, the Valdai Club prepares a special Valdai report ahead of the conference. This time, its authors are Zelenova Daria, PhD in Political Science, Head of the Centre for African Strategy in BRICS at the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and Sanusha Naidoo, Research Fellow at the Nelson Mandela School of Government at the University of Cape Town and Senior Research Fellow at the University of South Africa-associated Institute for Global Dialogue (UNISA). The topic of the 2025 report is "Russia and South Africa: A Solid Foundation for Strategic Partnership", the authors show how the historical legacy of the struggle for the liberation of Southern Africa forms favorable conditions for the development of bilateral relations in the 21st century. In addition, on the eve of the conference, its participants present a whole "scattering" of expert comments, one of which is "BRICS Summit in Rio: African Vector of Global South Cooperation" – was also prepared by the staff of the BRICS Centre for the Study of African Strategy (Abramova E., Т.А. Андреевой, Zelenova D.).
The first two sessions of the conference – “The Group of Twenty and BRICS: Assessing Strategic Roles in the Changing Global Order” and “Humanitarian Cooperation and the Role of Historical Memory in Russia’s Relations with South Africa and Other African Countries” were held in an open formatwith the participation of numerous representatives of African and Russian media. Chief Researcher of the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Political Sciences, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Prof. Degterev D. acted as a discussant in the second session, describing the current state of cooperation between Russia and Africa in the field of higher education. In his speech, he presented the thematic issue of the Scientific Notes of the Institute of Africa of the Russian Academy of Sciences (№ 2 2025), dedicated to the analysis of successful examples of Russian African educational cooperation.
The next two sessions of the conference – “Bilateral Relations between Russia and South Africa: Status and Prospects” and “Trump and the World Order” – were held without the participation of the media. Head of the Center for the Study of the BRICS African Strategy at the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Zelenova Daria In the third session, she presented the current prospects and problematic aspects of bilateral cooperation between Russia and South Africa, and showed successful examples of interaction. In the fourth session, a discussion of the growing hegemonic tendencies in US foreign policy took place.
On the sidelines of the conference, a number of fruitful meetings took place with leading researchers from South Africa, as well as Egypt, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe, which will give impetus to cooperation between the Institute of African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences and scientific organizations on the continent.
