Putin sends his Jet to pick new African bestie as 3rd Russia-Africa summit kicks off

Of all the African heads of state and delegations attending the third Russia-Africa Summit that is being held in Moscow, perhaps the President of Madagascar Michaël Randrianirina will stand out as one head of state that received the most special treatment from President Vladimir Putin.

While other heads of state arrived in their own presidential jets or hired business jets, President Michaël Randrianirina who had been to Russia just 8 months prior to this Summit, that is in February 2026, where he was on a state visit in which he met President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin, was specially accorded a plane by Russia, for it to ferry him to the Summit.

The plane was an Ilyushin Il 96-300 Special Flight Squadron of registration number RA 96017, and it was dispatched directly to Antananarivo from Moscow on October 23 2026 at 10:08pm, where after an 11 hour journey, it landed at the Ivato International Airport in Antananarivo at 9:15am the following day.

Two days later, and with president Michaël Randrianirina on board, the plane departed Antananarivo at 6:55pm on October 26, made a stop in the Mozambican capital Maputo at 8:25pm, before taking off at 12:49am and flying directly to Moscow, where it landed at the Vnukovo International Airport at 2:02pm on October 27, after a 12 hour journey.

Upon disembarking from the plane, the Malagasy leader just like several other African heads of state that had preceded him, was received at the airport tarmac by Maxim Oreshkin, the Russian Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office, and after greetings and introductions, he was also served a cup of hot traditional Russian black tea and traditional Russian sweets and snacks.

While seemingly in a Joyful mood looking, he ended up taking a gulp of the tea, just like his other African counterparts like President Emmerson Mnangagwa, of course except President Assimi Goita of Mali, who could not allow the tea get near his mouth, let alone the snacks.

The special treatment that President Michaël Randrianirina was accorded by Russia might be that in addition to it being a gesture that Moscow is merely strengthening ties with its African partners, the Malagasy leader must have impressed Putin by recently ordering that Civil Servants in Madagascar must start learning the Russian language, with his son even already speaking Russian.

Anyway, the 3rd Russia-Africa summit officially kicks off on October 28, and according to the program that was announced by the Presidential advisor Yuri Ushakov, the Russian leader Vladimir Putin had planned to participate in at least 24 bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit and that of the just concluded 8th gas exporting countries forum, with his busy week running up to October 30.

The first African head of state that President Putin met in this latest diplomatic marathon was President Daniel Chapo of Mozambique, whom he met in the evening of October 27, just a couple of hours after conclusion of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum, and then President Teodoro Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, before concluding his series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the gas summit with a meeting with Chairman of the Libyan Presidential Council Mohamed al-Menfi

But on October 28, he had in addition with participating in the first planery session of the 3rd Russia-Africa summit, been set to meet with the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, and the Congolese President Denis Sassou.

Then on October 29, after the summit's planery session, he had been set to also hold discussions with the leaders of Burundi, Madagascar, Zimbabwe, Namibia, and the Kenyan leader William Ruto, who departed Kenya in the evening of October 27 for Moscow.

Finally on October 30, he had been set to hold discussions with 11 heads of state or country representatives, including with the leaders of Ghana, Mali, Mauritania, South Sudan, the Central African Republic, the DRC, Togo, Eritrea, Somalia, and Comoros.