Eritrea’s Isaias arrives in Moscow for summit and planned Putin talks, minister says


President Isaias Afwerki shakes hands with a Russian official on a red carpet beside a parked jet at a Moscow airport

President Isaias Afwerki is welcomed on his arrival in Moscow for the third summit of Russian and African leaders, October 27, 2026. Photo: Eritrea's Ministry of Information (@hawelti) via X

Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki arrived in Moscow on Tuesday for the third summit of Russian and African leaders and a planned meeting with Vladimir Putin, Eritrea's Information Minister said.

Isaias left Asmara in the early morning hours and was "accorded warm welcome" on arrival in the Russian capital in the mid-morning, Eritrea's Information Minister, Yemane G. Meskel, wrote on X. His delegation includes Foreign Minister Osman Saleh. The summit, set for October 28 and 29, will deal with cooperation in the economy, investment, trade, energy, food security, agriculture and security, the minister said, and Isaias will hold a meeting with Putin "to discuss the strengthening of bilateral ties as well as other matters of mutual importance."

Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov has said Putin will meet Isaias, along with South Sudan's Salva Kiir, on October 30, after the summit closes, the African Initiative news agency reported, citing RIA Novosti. Ushakov said delegations from 48 African countries, 22 of them led by heads of state, had confirmed they would attend, RT reported.

Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is also expected in Moscow, having accepted Putin's invitation at the recent BRICS meeting in India, BBC Amharic reported. Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Alimov has said Moscow is ready to provide a platform on the sidelines of the summit for the two neighbors, which have cut diplomatic relations, and called both of them "long-standing reliable partners" of Russia. Neither Addis Ababa nor Asmara had said publicly whether it would accept, DW Amharic reported on Monday. The summit, under the theme of peace, security and development, is co-chaired by Putin and Burundi's President Evariste Ndayishimiye, the current African Union chair.

The open-source account @AfriMEOSINT wrote on X that Isaias flew from Asmara to Moscow aboard a UAE-registered Airbus A319, registration A6-RRJ, operated by Rotana Jet, a charter airline founded by a member of the Al Nahyan family, Abu Dhabi's ruling family. Mereja could not independently confirm the flight details, and Rotana Jet had not responded to an inquiry by publication time. Russia's Sputnik news agency showed African delegations arriving in Moscow and named Isaias among the leaders who landed on Tuesday.

The distance between Addis Ababa and Asmara has grown wider in recent weeks. Speaking at a UN Day event in Asmara on Friday, Osman Saleh said Eritrea faces "hostile provocations and aggressive tendencies" that violate the UN Charter, international law and good neighborliness, and urged the world not to be "a silent accomplice" while what he called a "warmongering" neighbor destabilizes the region, DW reported. The Government in Asmara has said Eritrea's sovereignty and territorial integrity are "non-negotiable and inviolable."

On the Ethiopian side, Abiy told the Tana Forum in Bahir Dar last week that access to the sea is "an existential matter" for Ethiopia, while saying his Government would pursue it through dialogue and mutual benefit. His adviser Getachew Reda accused Eritrean troops of still holding the areas of Aiga and Daligera, which Asmara denies, saying its soldiers are inside Eritrea's internationally recognized border. Getachew said Ethiopia is ready to talk, but only if Eritrea publicly stops supporting rebels inside Ethiopia, according to DW.

Eritrea's long Red Sea coast has made it more important since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, and the Houthi takeover of about 1,300 kilometers of Yemen's coastline has made the region more complicated, DW noted. Professor Mirjam van Reisen of Tilburg University in the Netherlands told DW that any solution must include Eritrea. "Eritrea is very deeply involved," she said, adding that the moment is "a good opportunity for Eritrea to be a player with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Houthis," and that Asmara wants to keep Ethiopia out of that calculation.

Two Eritrean accounts on X reacted in opposite terms. The Eritrean Blue Revolution Front (EBRF), posting as @phelemawi, wrote: "We in EBRF see a dictator shopping abroad for protection. Eritreans have not voted in over thirty years, the 1997 constitution was never implemented, and our young people are held in indefinite national service." The group added that "no meeting with Vladimir Putin will feed our people or free our prisoners."

A supporter, @AmanEri, wished the president a safe journey and praised "his calmness, patience and strategic approach to politics," which the account said were important "when tensions with neighbouring Ethiopia are rising."

Whoever works with the main players around the Red Sea, the Suez Canal and Bab el-Mandeb "will be influential," van Reisen said.

Sources

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