Russia is ramping up a campaign to extend its influence across Africa.
Last week, Moscow’s foreign minister said that around 100 employees had been redeployed from Europe to diplomatic missions in Africa, where Russia is planning to reopen a dozen or so new embassies including Liberia.
Meanwhile, the Russian Orthodox Church has expanded to at least 34 countries across the continent in recent years, and Russia has tripled its scholarship places for African students.
Russia Resorts to Religion for Sway in Africa
Russia, battling for global influence as its four-year war against Ukraine grinds on, has turned to God to boost its sway.
Lacking the money of geopolitical rivals such as China and the US, it can’t pledge to fund the infrastructure that poor countries in regions such as Africa need, while its comparatively small — and sanctioned — economy has little to offer in the way of trade.
Instead, it’s deployed an institution that’s been intertwined with politics for more than a millennium (aside from a few decades of persecution during the Soviet era) — the Russian Orthodox Church.
Coupled with a drive to open cultural and language centers across the developing world and thousands of Russian university scholarships, it’s a powerful tool aimed at winning over a continent with the world’s youngest population and 54 votes at the United Nations.
Since late 2021, in a decision triggered by a dispute with the Greek Orthodox Church over the recognition of the Ukrainian branch, the Russian chapter has rapidly expanded across Africa in what clergy from Greek orthodoxy have termed an invasion.
It now has a presence in at least 34 African countries, has opened hundreds of places of worship and lured priests and adherents across from Greek churches that have operated for decades.
Its aim isn’t apolitical. Its leaders say publicly they work hand in glove with the Russian state, and the church’s talking points echo those of President Vladimir Putin: Conservative family values, western decadence, and that Africa — and its churches — continue to suffer at the hands of former colonialists.
But is Russia seeking more than to spread its brand of religion?
Reports from Senegal to Kenya and South Africa show that it’s recruiting a growing number of Africans for its military, with many duped into service. A drone-making special economic zone has been flying in young African women to make the munitions after advertising hospitality jobs and education opportunities.
As the war in Ukraine continues to churn through thousands of young Russian lives, the suspicion is rising that the goal of the soft power it’s deploying in Africa is the manpower its army and factories so desperately need.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum in Cairo.
