Russia’s Hand in Africa

By Leo Gardner

27 May, 2025

Africa is rapidly emerging as the next geopolitical flashpoint of the world, with the major global players competing for influence in nations across the continent. Russia in particular has grown into a strong and aggressive force. This article will explore Moscow’s ever-growing role in the continent.

Russia’s involvement in Africa is far from a recent development, but rather finds its origins in the mid-20th century. The relationship began to develop during a period when African nations were attempting to free themselves from the shackles of western colonialism. The Soviet Union — sharing an anti-Western sentiment — appeared to offer the perfect partnership. With an overall strategic goal of undermining the West, the USSR provided assistance to African nations looking to breakaway from their Western settlers, offering diplomatic ties, economic aid and in some cases military support in wars for independence. The assistance was, of course, less about altruism but more about gaining geopolitical advantage.

Present Day

Fast forward to the present day and a similar phenomenon is emerging, with several African countries in recent years looking to distance themselves from their original Western partners in favour of closer ties to Russia. This has been seen in particular across the Sahel region, the mineral rich belt of countries stretching from the North of East Africa across to the Red Sea in the West. Russia’s absence as an imperial power in the 20th century has undoubtedly made it an appealing partner to nations in this region, but it has also been opportunistic in seizing the moment to push its presence onto the region.

The Sahel region has long been marked with instability. Crippled by years of colonialism, the countries in the region have since suffered from poor leadership and economic hardship leaving it vulnerable to external influence. In recent years, underlying anti-western sentiments have intensified. Failed Western peacekeeping missions in the region, aggressive Russian disinformation campaigns, and a wave of coup d’états in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso have lead to the rise of authoritarian military regimes with troubling human rights records, coupled with the rapid withdrawal of US, UK, and French presences. In their absence, Russian influence has expanded, with the Kremlin seizing the opportunity to engage even more closely with the countries of the Sahel.

Turning a blind eye to the atrocities, President Vladimir Putin’s has guaranteed a “hands off” approach to African nations’ internal affairs – a key feature of the growing relationship between Moscow and the region. Unlike Western powers, whose conditions for trade and diplomatic relations had been seen as stifling for Africa’s economic potential and restricting of sovereignty, Russia’s approach is regarded by many African leaders as less intrusive on national autonomy and so has encouraged military juntas to engage closely with the Kremlin. This sentiment was expressed clearly by the foreign minister of Mali who labelled his country’s current relationship with its former imperial power, France, as ‘neo-colonial’, while Russia’s relationship with Mali was declared more ‘sincere’.

The Deal

The ‘sincere’ relationship has primarily taken the form of security guarantees from Russia for the leaders of the Sahel. Since 2017, thousands of Russian mercenaries have been deployed into Africa. These troops, first deployed under the banner of the Wagner Group, now renamed the African Corps, have been key in offering support to the military regimes in the Sahel, assisting the likes of Captain Traore, the current president of Burkina Faso, Faustin-Archange Toudéra, President of the Central African Republic and Assimi Goïta, Interim President of Mali, all of whom have faced the concurrent threats of terrorist and challenges to their leadership. The Russian military has generally been received well by the people of many of these nations with it now a common sight to see a Russian flag waved at mass gatherings. The growth in Russian military personnel has come at the same time as Western powers have been forced to withdraw troops across the Sahel region. France, in particular, as the former major colonial power in the region, has borne the brunt of this rejection having been forced to withdraw troops from Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso, among others. There is a clear concerted effort from the Kremlin in recent months to guarantee the security of military leaders in the area. For even while the Kremlin wages a depleting and debilitating war in Ukraine, a healthy amount of military hardware is being deployed across the Sahel. Reports have stated that on top of the many mercenaries present across Africa today Russia has sent major pieces of military hardware to the area such as Spartak and KamAz-4385 armoured vehicles, along with seven T-72B3 main battle tanks MBTs, five BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), and more than 50 other vehicles that included BTR-82A armoured personnel carriers (APCs).

The value of Putin’s long-term investment in the region is increasingly clear to see. First and perhaps foremost has been the economic gain. In return for the security, Russia has been granted access to the mineral rich land of Sahel, forming what analysts have labelled a “military-business model”. Following Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the country was rocked by sanctions imposed by the West and, while the impact these sanctions have actually had an effect on the Russian economy is debatable, they have no doubt pushed the government to seek alternative ways of funding its war in Ukraine. An estimated $2.5bn (according to the most recent numbers in 2024) has been harnessed from the mines in Africa by Russian mercenaries since the start of the Russia-Ukraine war. This produce has been used both to help feed the flailing Russian economy, but also to directly fund the war in Ukraine itself. Who knows what future economic issues Russia may face, but in the Sahel region, it clearly has a prolific source of income.

The diplomatic gain that Putin has made in ingratiating himself amongst leaders in the Sahel and subsequently across Africa more generally also should not be underestimated. In March 2022, a month after Russia launched its heinous and unnecessary invasion of Ukraine, members of the UN were asked to vote to condemn the Kremlin’s actions. Of the 54 African nations just over 51% (28 out of 54) countries voted in favour of the proposal, leaving a mixture of countries who either abstained, voted against the proposal or who did not show up for the vote altogether. The message was strong: Africa had become a battleground in the power struggle between Russia and the West, and the West was losing ground. Since then, the fear of growing sympathy towards Russia has been compounded. Along with the wash of coups across the Sahel which have rejected the post-colonial Western presence in the region, just recently in January this year, the generally Western leaning African bloc ECOWAS was hit with the departure of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger as the three countries sought to make their own alliance via the Alliance des États du Sahel (AES). On top of this, there has been the rise in general diplomatic and trade tides between Russia and African countries, even those supposedly aligned with the West. A nuclear energy deal has been made between the Kremlin and Rwanda, a mining deal with Burkina Faso, and plans are in place to open Russian embassies in Gambia, Liberia, Comoros, Niger, Sierra Leone, Togo and South Sudan by 2026. It is apparent that Russia is positioning itself to be the major player on the continent, simultaneously future proofing itself against its adversaries.

Conclusion

Russia’s influence in the Sahel region and across Africa more generally is a constantly growing threat to Western security. But this is an arguably self-inflicted injury. After decades of colonial exploitation, the West’s retreat left behind a broken and resentful Africa. The subsequent civil and militaristic instability left it open to foreign interference, something which Russia has grasped with both hands. For decades the West has looked to mend its relations with Africa, with the shadow of imperialism forever looming large. But the recent decisions taken by Sir Keir Starmer and President Donald Trump to cut foreign aid, a significant part of which went to Africa, will only further enable Russia’s rise in influence on the continent. As long as Russia’s preeminence on the continent remains unchallenged, Western powers will continue to struggle to contain Russia either through diplomacy or sanctions. But the window of opportunity to mount such a challenge is ever shrinking.

Image: Chairman of the State Duma met with President of the National Transitional Council of the Republic of Mali Malick Diaw (Source: State Duma of the Russian Federation via CC BY 4.0)