Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with his Zimbabwe counterpart Emmerson Mnangagwa during the second Russia-Africa summit in Saint Petersburg on July 27, 2023. (Photo by Vyacheslav PROKOFYEV / TASS Host Photo Agency / AFP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin handed Zimbabwean leader Emmerson Mnangagwa a presidential helicopter, according to the African nation’s government, as a show of their close ties.
Zimbabwe is also among several African countries that were promised free grain from Russia, a donation announced by Putin during a two-day Russia-Africa summit.
The Mi-38 helicopter "will soon be gracing our skies,” Information Secretary Nick Mangwana said on Friday in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
In May, Moscow gave Mnangagwa’s government 18 helicopters for medical use and air policing, according to the Harare-based state-owned Herald newspaper.
Like Putin, the Zimbabwean president is sanctioned by the US and the European Union. Mnangagwa was one of 17 African heads of state who attended this week’s gathering in St. Petersburg.
