Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing to welcome national leaders from across Africa to the Black Sea port of Sochi for two days of talks. Reports have described the event as the first major gathering of African leaders in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. The summit will be held at Sochi’s Olympic Park, which is where Russia held the 2014 Winter Olympics. It is expected to include as many as 10,000 politicians and business leaders from 35 African countries. Russian officials hope the event will show that Russia is again interested in Africa and that the country is a world power. “Russia has things to offer in terms of cooperation to African countries,” Putin’s spokesman said. Since the end of the Soviet Union, Russia has done relatively little on the African continent.