Ghana announces defence pact with Russia
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on 3News
Ghana and Russia are to negotiate a new defence pact and cooperate on building a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant, according to Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa. President John Dramani Mahama secured the commitments during his meeting with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, 3News reports.
Ghana secured Russia’s announcement of a new defence pact, a ban on its nationals participating in the war in Ukraine and more scholarships, Ghanaian Foreign Minister Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa said on 31 October. The pact is intended to enable Accra to acquire “strategic military assets” for the Ghanaian armed forces, according to a statement published by the minister on Facebook.
The announced commitments also include Russian-Ghanaian cooperation on a 2,000-megawatt nuclear power plant, grain production and fertiliser supplies. The Permanent Joint Cooperation Commission, a dialogue mechanism between the two countries, is to be relaunched in the coming weeks, with Russia ready to host its next meeting in 2027.
The Kremlin has not publicly confirmed the recruitment ban or the conclusion of a defence pact. The statement released by the Russian presidency after President Vladimir Putin’s talks with his Ghanaian counterpart, John Dramani Mahama, in Moscow on 30 October, mentions neither the recruitment of fighters, nor the war in Ukraine, nor a military agreement, 3News reports.
The announcement adds to Russian support for a 2,000-megawatt Ghanaian nuclear power plant, announced on 31 October. It comes two days after Russia’s promise to ban the recruitment of Ghanaians for the war in Ukraine, published on 2 November.
