Vladimir Putin has concurred that it is high time Russia expanded its partnership with Africa beyond the military and defence spheres. At a press conference held in Kazan following the 2024 BRICS Summit recently, a Cameroonian journalist asked the Russian president: \u201cMr President, we are aware of the fact that many African countries have fallen victim to terrorism and other destabilising actions. At the same time, we see Russia helping the Central African Republic and other Sahel countries. Before Russia\u2019s involvement, other countries were present there, but only after Russia\u2019s intervention did we see many of these countries stabilized. So, my question is: is it not time for Russia to deepen this kind of partnership with African states not only in the military sphere but in other spheres as well?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Russian president responded to what he openly described as \u201ca very important question,\u201d thus: \u201cI fully agree with you,\u201d adding: \u201cThis is the point of our cooperation with BRICS partner countries.\u201d According to him, \u201cCreating an investment platform within BRICS is precisely the goal of our efforts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur experts suggest that the economies of countries like Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and others will develop at a steady and positive pace,\u201d Putin said before pointing out: \u201cHowever, there are regions around the world where growth will go at a very fast pace. These are primarily South Asian and African countries. This is exactly why we, within BRICS, are addressing the issue of creating a new investment platform using the latest electronic tools.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The goal, Putin mentioned, is to create a system that could \u2013 surprisingly enough, be non-inflationary and to create proper conditions for investing in efficiently and quickly developing markets worldwide, especially in Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWhy do we think that? I believe many will agree with me [that] there are several reasons for that. Firstly, these countries are experiencing significant population growth. \u2026 I spoke with the Prime Minister of India. They have a yearly population growth of ten million people. That means ten million more people in India every year. Africa is growing rapidly as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Secondly, he said, \u201cThese regions of the world are less urbanised, but urbanisation will definitely ramp up, and both the people and countries will strive to catch up with the living standards in other regions of the world, including Europe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAll of that, and some other factors,\u201d such as \u201ccapital accumulation,\u201d which Putin observed \u201cwill happen \u2026 and is already happening,\u201d suggest that \u201cwe should focus on these regions around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He then announced: \u201cWe, in BRICS, are trying to create a working group at the BRICS New Development Bank in order to develop mechanisms for effective and reliable investment in these countries. I believe this will benefit everyone, including the investors and the recipient countries. New production facilities will be created, which will be efficient and ensure a return on investment.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To achieve this, Putin proposed: \u201cWe need to create tools that are immune to external risks, especially those of a political nature. I think we can do this. This is the path we will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The BRICS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The BRICS bloc, founded in 2009, initially comprised Brazil, Russia, India, and China. South Africa joined in 2010 and attended its first summit in 2011. In January 2024, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates joined, too. Saudi Arabia, as well, has been invited to join while 35 others are knocking on the door of the global-south consortium which seeks to be a counterweight to the US-led West. Russia currently chairs the group, which seeks to create an alternative world order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ahead of the 2024 XVI BRICS Summit in Kazan in the Russian Federation, Mr Putin said the group\u2019s expansion is a \u201cstrong indication of the growing authority of the association and its role in international affairs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe countries in our association are essentially the drivers of global economic growth. In the foreseeable future, BRICS will generate the main increase in global GDP,\u201d CNBC reported Putin as saying to officials and businessmen ahead of the summit, adding: \u201cThe economic growth of BRICS members will increasingly depend less on external influence or interference. This is essentially economic sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Among the more than 20 leaders who attended the summit were China\u2019s Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the BBC, the BRICS nations account for 45% of the global population. Added together, members’ economies are worth more than $28.5tn (\u00a322tn). That’s around 28% of the global economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia\u2019s ties with Africa outside of the BRICS bloc<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n On its own, Russia has mainly been a security player on the African continent. This has been through the Wagner Group, renamed the Africa Corps following the death of its leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, in a plane crash on 27 August 2023. The crash came after the 62-year-old mercenary\u2019s brief mutiny against Putin\u2019s army which was later ironed out between the two parties with a promise by the Kremlin that he would be left scot-free and allowed to resettle in Belarus. After what was speculated as Prigozhin\u2019s comeuppance, the Wagner Group in Africa got merged into a new Africa Corp under the direct control of Russia\u2019s Defence Ministry. Since 2024, the paramilitary force\u2019s operations have been directly controlled by Putin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The group, according to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), has operated in several African countries since 2017, \u201coften providing its clients with direct military support and related security services alongside propaganda efforts.\u201d Since its emergence in 2014 during Russia\u2019s annexation of Crimea, the Wagner Group has operated in Syria and several African countries, according to CFR, where many of its operations focus on security issues. \u201cIt has often provided security services and paramilitary assistance and launched disinformation campaigns for troubled regimes in exchange for resource concessions and diplomatic support,\u201d CFR said, noting that it is \u201cmost active in the Central African Republic (CAR), Libya, Mali, and Sudan, all of which have a tenuous relationship with the West due to colonial legacies and inherent political differences.\u201d Also, the BBC notes that Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso \u2013 three Central Sahelian countries with close ties to Russia and Wagner \u2013 have all experienced military takeovers in recent years. These countries then expelled all French and US troops and leaned towards their Russian allies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia\u2019s dis(information) campaign in Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In 2019, an internal memo of the Wagner Group published by Le Monde, read: “Africa is a region of the world where the interests of all global powers converge. A state’s position on the international stage depends directly on its influence on the African continent.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, indeed, the group has been an active player in Russia\u2019s misinformation and disinformation drive in many African countries. In its 1st<\/sup> August 2023 article titled: \u2018How the Russian propaganda machine works in Africa,\u2019 Le Monde wrote that since the first Russia-Africa summit in Sochi in 2019, Prigozhin set up a sophisticated propaganda machine to try and restore his country’s diplomatic influence, lost a quarter of a century ago with the collapse of the USSR. Its objective was to promote the “dissemination of information about Russian and Soviet support.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Africa Center for Strategic Studies (ACSS), \u201cRussia continues to be the primary purveyor of disinformation in Africa, sponsoring 80 documented campaigns, targeting more than 22 countries.\u201d The Center says, \u201cThis represents nearly 40 per cent of all disinformation campaigns in Africa,\u201d noting: \u201cThese 80 campaigns have reached many millions of [social media] users through tens of thousands of coordinated fake pages and posts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Centre explains: \u201cAggressively leveraging disinformation is a mainstay of Russia\u2019s use of irregular channels to gain influence in Africa.\u201d It notes that\u201d \u201cRussia\u2019s approach is distinctive among external actors in that Moscow typically relies on irregular (and frequently extra-legal) means to expand its influence\u2014deployment of mercenaries, disinformation, election interference, support for coups, and arms for resources deals, among others. This low-cost, high-influence strategy seeks to advance a very different world order than the rules-based, democratic political systems to which most Africans aspire. The outcomes from Russia\u2019s interventions in Africa, therefore, will have far-reaching implications for governance norms and security on the continent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia, in the analysis of the Center, \u201chas promulgated disinformation to undermine democracy in at least 19 African countries, contributing to the continent\u2019s backsliding on this front.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shaping Russia\u2019s narratives through \u2018press tours\u2019 \u2013 a subtle influence of African journalists<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Additionally, the BBC documents that Russia also indirectly, and rather subtly, influences African journalists\u2019 viewpoints by taking them on sponsored tours. In an article titled: \u201cRussia in Africa: Building Influence With War \u2018Tours\u2019 and Graffiti,\u201d the BBC explained how African journalists\u2019 views on the war in Ukraine tilted towards Russia following one of such tours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn June 2024, a group of bloggers and reporters from eight countries were invited for a seven-day \u2018press tour\u2019 of the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. The trip was organised by Russian state media and Western-sanctioned Russian officials, and the journalists visited the African Initiative\u2019s headquarters in Moscow. Throughout the visit, the reporters were accompanied by Russian officials and traveled with the Russian military in vehicles marked with the Z sign \u2013 the symbol of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,\u201d recalled the BBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cRussia uses these guided tours as a way of propagating certain narratives,\u201d Beverly Ochieng, senior analyst at Control Risks and the Centre for Strategic and International Studies told the BBC, noting that China organises similar tours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ms Ochieng noted that having African journalists report on their trips gives an \u201cimpression of authenticity\u201d because they \u201creach out to the audience on languages they recognise\u201d, rather than looking like it is part of \u201ca wider campaign used to portray Russia in a positive light.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia\u2019s African Initiatives as a \u2018disinformation tool\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In February 2024, the US Department of State\u2019s Global Engagement Center, said it was \u201cexposing\u201d Russia\u2019s intelligence services for providing material support and guidance to the \u201cAfrican Initiative,\u201d which the US government described as \u201ca new information agency focused on Africa-Russia relations that has spread disinformation regarding the United States and European countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a press statement titled: \u2018The Kremlin\u2019s Efforts to Spread Deadly Disinformation in Africa,\u2019 the US Department of State published on its website that the Kremlin\u2019s disinformation campaign in Africa includes the African Initiative\u2019s recruitment of \u201cAfrican journalists, bloggers, and members of local publics to support and amplify the organisation\u2019s work of bolstering Russia\u2019s image and denigrating that of other countries.\u201d The US government said: \u201cOne of African Initiative\u2019s first major campaigns is to target U.S. and Western health initiatives in Africa with dangerous health-related disinformation. The campaign seeks to undermine U.S.-funded public health projects across Africa beginning with disinformation regarding an outbreak of a mosquito-borne viral disease.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US Department of State continued: \u201cFrom there, conspiracies will be spread about Western pharmaceutical corporations, health-focused philanthropic efforts, and the spread of disease in West and East Africa.\u201d It said the main actors involved in the disinformation drive were the \u201cChief Editor of the African Initiative, Artem Sergeyevich Kureyev, who is also the General Director of Initsiativa-23, publicly registered to an office in Moscow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the US Department of State, \u201cSome members of the African Initiative were recruited from the disintegrating enterprises of the late Yevgeniy Prigozhin,\u201d adding: \u201cThe organisation already has local offices in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Bamako, Mali; and is hosting events on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US government accused the Kremlin of \u201cdisinformation laundering\u201d to \u201cappear organic.\u201d It explained: \u201cAfrican Initiative primarily spreads its disinformation and propaganda via numerous branded and unbranded social media accounts. Two of its main accounts are \u2018African Initiative\u2019 and \u2018African Kalashnikov.\u2019 The organisation is highly active on its website, afrinz.ru, and VKontakte, and uses these platforms and others amplified by additional pro-Russian accounts. The popular Telegram channel \u2018Smile and Wave\u2019 is a frequent amplifier of African Initiative content.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It also warned: \u201cForeign information manipulation remains a critical threat around the world, as authoritarian actors like the Russian government use it to exacerbate social divisions, skew national discourse, and fundamentally disrupt people\u2019s ability to make informed decisions for themselves and their communities. By supporting this disinformation network, the Russian government is actively harming the countries it targets and the African continent as a whole.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In one instance, the U.S. State Department\u2019s Global Engagement Center said it \u201cexposed the Kremlin\u2019s attempts to undermine global support for Ukraine by covertly spreading disinformation in Latin America. The core tactic in that campaign involved laundering Moscow-produced content through local individuals and groups to make pro-Kremlin disinformation and propaganda seem organic to the communities in which it was spread. Following the disruption of that operation, the Russian government is now trying the same tactic in Africa with a new set of actors and entities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The US government warned: \u201cForeign information manipulation is a dangerous and destabilising tactic, but it is especially damaging when targeting health information. This Kremlin disinformation campaign must come to an immediate end before it poses an even greater risk to health security in Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Disinfo.africa, one of the leading figures of the Burkina Faso-based African Initiatives is Viktor Lukovenko, who has been variously described in several publications as a \u2018self-professed Russian expert in West Africa.\u2019 An article titled: \u2018From murderer to leading Russian expert in West Africa\u2019 published by Disinfo.africa on 27 May 2024, said Lukovenko served five years of an eight-year prison sentence for the attack and murder of 58-year-old Swiss citizen Anthony Kunanayaku during a nationalist rally in Moscow on 4 November 2009.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The publication reveals that since the release of the self-styled West African expert from the maximum-security camp in the Republic of Buryatia in 2015, \u201che has been roped into the world of information manipulation and peddling dangerous propaganda about Ukraine and West Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A 9th March 2024 publication by Le Monde said the pro-Wagner pundit, also known as Viktor Vasiliev, is a former member of deceased Wagner leader Yevgeny Prigozhin\u2019s propaganda network and \u201chas been travelling discreetly across politically unstable African countries since the Wagner Group was dismantled earlier in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The article said Lukovenko, who presents himself as a tourist and blogger on his Telegram channel \u2018Smile and Wave\u2019, has been documented touring Senegal, Burkina Faso, and Niger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Africa Report, the African Initiative network has largely taken over the African communications operations of the Wagner Group and relies on digital extensions on the continent through sponsored local media such as radio in the Central African Republic; and Telegram channels with a large following.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Disinfo.africa reports that on April 18 2024, Lukovenko posted a message on his Telegram channel stating that he is the founder and financier of the African Initiative Association. \u201cLukovenko admitted to founding the association but denied being its leader, saying a Burkinab\u00e9 needed to fill the role. As<\/a>[JS1]<\/a> well as promoting Russia in Africa on its Telegram channel, the African Initiative Association organises sports tournaments and Russian movie screenings, in Burkina Faso\u2019s capital, Ouagadougou,\u201d the report noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The goal of the African Initiative, asserts the Africa Report, \u201cis to produce and disseminate content designed to position Russia as an ally to African countries against the harmful influences of Western nations, particularly France.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Per the Africa Report\u2019s narrative, the propaganda channels of the African Initiative \u201crecently circulated the arrest in the Central African Republic of two Franco-Algerians, alleged without evidence, to be French mercenaries working for armed groups seeking to overthrow Central African President Faustin-Archange Touadera.\u201d The disinformation was subsequently amplified by social media influencers such as Nathalie Yamb and Kemi Seba.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Analysis<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Russia realises the need to have not only some level of influence on the African continent, as it aims to establish a Moscow-led new multipolar world order as a counterweight to the US-led Western bipolar order and Putin is leveraging information (or disinformation) to achieve that. Putin knows that \u2018disinformation\u2019 can be even more powerful than \u2018information\u2019 and, so, buffeting the continent with his \u2018best\u2019 version of information \u2013 disinformation \u2013 to win over the minds of Africans in disfavour to the US-led West\u2019s interests while surreptitiously advancing its hidden interests. Africans may be blind to the Russian disinformation onslaught because it serves the temporary purpose of providing much-needed justification for the actions \u2013 unconstitutional and inhumane \u2013 of the few leaders on the continent who have either taken over the reins of affairs of their respective countries or, in the process of doing so through means that do not align with democratic values and tenets. So, for now, these African leaders find a friend and ally in Putin\u2019s Russia while the Kremlin also sees a perfect opportunity to intricately weave Russia into the core fibre that makes up Africa \u2013 politically, economically and culturally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The strategy, however, is to the eventual favour of Russia. It will gain a foothold on the continent\u2019s political affairs and once that is achieved, control over the economic, cultural and psyche of the continent becomes a no-brainer. This is how a continent, a culture, and a people are insipidly enslaved with their glaring acquiescence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And the best opportunity for disinformation is election time. Therefore, as African countries go to the polls to elect new leaders, they must be wary of the information war being waged on the continent by not only Russia but also various interest groups who have turned the continent into a geopolitical proxy war front with disinformation as their main weapon of mass destruction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As Putin himself observed at the BRICS Summit, Africa will see rapid economic growth in the coming decades. This means the continent presents a perfect opportunity for Russia to tap into that projected economic growth and the best way to do that is by being at the very centre of Africa\u2019s scheme of affairs politically and having some high level of control of Africa\u2019s leaders. Africa\u2019s natural resources (oil, gold, bauxite, uranium, forests, lithium, platinum, cobalt, diamond, manganese, water, arable land, fauna, etc.) are a Russian target. Africa\u2019s people are a target. Africa\u2019s culture is a target. Africa\u2019s literature is a target. The minds of Africa\u2019s people are a target. The very essence of Africanness is a target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It is, therefore, important for Africa to put in measures to detect and then counter all forms of Russian-inspired disinformation to safeguard the sanctity and sovereignty of the continent. African leaders must not sacrifice the continent\u2019s future and sovereignty on the platter of self-serving temporary comforts. They must see the bigger picture and rally together as allies in arms to fight off this new-age information war before it gets taken over and partitioned, once again, among foreign powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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