--- title: Russia's Growing Influence in Africa Serves as a Warning description: Moscow's inroads will cause democracy to lose ground in Africa, argues Sandun Munasinghe of the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change. canonical: https://time.com/6163624/russia-africa/ author: Sandun Munasinghe article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-04-05T02:58:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:42:37.235Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Column: Russia's Influence in Africa Serves as a Warning og:description: Moscow's inroads will cause democracy to lose ground in Africa, argues Sandun Munasinghe og:url: https://time.com/6163624/russia-africa/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt569fd2d4e191c860/698a30a84ee262431f31a10a/GettyImages-1238870850.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: ETHIOPIA-RUSSIA-UKRAINE-CONFLICT-HISTORY-CELEBRATION og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Column: Russia's Influence in Africa Serves as a Warning twitter:description: Moscow's inroads will cause democracy to lose ground in Africa, argues Sandun Munasinghe twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt569fd2d4e191c860/698a30a84ee262431f31a10a/GettyImages-1238870850.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The World Needs to Pay Attention to Russia's Growing Influence in Africa > Sponsored content. 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Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: The Artist eL Seed Takes Calligraphy to The Streets [Watch (HLS stream): The Artist eL Seed Takes Calligraphy to The Streets](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Fnc4M3w4.m3u8) (3:11)  _Published 2022-04-04. The Dubai-based artist eL Seed, who draws upon Arabic calligraphy's looping and curved shapes to create mesmerizing and often massive installations of wood, metal, glass and more, believes words are powerful—and that's why he incorporates them into his work._ by [Sandun Munasinghe](https://time.com/author/sandun-munasinghe/) ## Sandun Munasinghe Apr 5, 2022 2:58 AM UTC  A man waves a Russian flag during the celebration of the 126th anniversary of the Battle of Adwa, at Menelik Square in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Mar. 2, 2022. A man waves a Russian flag during the celebration of the 126th anniversary of the Battle of Adwa, at Menelik Square in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Mar. 2, 2022. AMANUEL SILESHI/AFP via Getty Images by [Sandun Munasinghe](https://time.com/author/sandun-munasinghe/) ## Sandun Munasinghe Apr 5, 2022 2:58 AM UTC In 2018, contestants lined up in Bangui stadium to vie for the title of Miss Central African Republic (CAR). As they paraded, a new power on the regional stage was also doing its best to woo onlookers. With walls adorned in Russian flags, the Kremlin’s sponsoring of the CAR’s [first beauty pageant](https://www.france24.com/en/20181212-russian-influence-show-c-african-beauty-contest) in three years marked a showy bid by President Vladimir Putin to extend Russia’s soft power on the continent. While the focus remains on Ukraine following Moscow’s invasion, Africa has, for some time, been a second front in Putin’s confrontation with the West and cannot be ignored. With [17 African nations](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/africa-in-focus/2022/03/09/figure-of-the-week-african-countries-votes-on-the-un-resolution-condemning-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/) abstaining, and 1 voting against, the Mar. 2 U.N. resolution condemning Russia’s war in Ukraine, the magnitude of Putin’s decade-long charm offensive is becoming plain. A [new report](https://institute.global/policy/security-soft-power-and-regime-support-spheres-russian-influence-africa) from the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change shows how Russia is reviving Soviet-era ties with African states to extract resources from the region, and in exchange, become a security provider. Putin now appears to consider Africa an arena of his imperialist ambition, and hopes to lure the continent away from Western influence. Africa is home to some of the [fast-growing economies](https://www.fdiintelligence.com/article/75841) in the world and is abundant in natural resources. But the challenges faced by much of the continent—poverty, inflation, and deep-lying inequalities—are outpacing the abilities of many governments to service their populations, leading to instability. African leaders are pursuing various avenues of support, with Russia emerging as their new multipurpose ally. **Read More:** [_The Growing Global Fallout From Russia’s War in Ukraine_](https://time.com/6160948/global-fallout-russias-invasion-ukraine/) It is a relationship based on paradox. Russia has a vested interest in the deployment of private military contractors (PMCs) in the region. Thus instead of bringing peace, it thrives on instability in African states and volatility among Africa’s leadership. --- ### More from TIME --- Since the invasion of Crimea in 2014, Russian PMCs have deployed to at least 19 African nations. One of them, the Wagner Group, has been tasked with operations that range from protecting commercial assets and fighting Islamist terrorists to the suppressing of anti-government uprisings. In Sudan, at least 500 Wagner men were deployed during 2017 to train the [notorious](https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/03/01/sudan-unlawful-detentions-rapid-support-forces) Rapid Support Forces, and also to combat rebels who opposed President Omar al-Bashir. In Libya, Wagner provided military support to General Khalifa Haftar in his bid to oust the Western-backed U.N. Government of National Accord (GNA). Wagner also trained a mercenary rebel group that, last year, killed the Chadian president [Idriss Deby](https://www.cfr.org/blog/unfolding-consequences-idriss-debys-death). PMC operations are linked to the extraction of natural resources. Following Wagner’s support for al-Bashir, [gold mining licenses](https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2022/02/08/russias-wagner-group-in-africa-influence-commercial-concessions-rights-violations-and-counterinsurgency-failure/) were awarded to a company reportedly linked to Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, the [alleged](https://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2019/08/africa/putins-private-army-car-intl/) funder of the group. In a similar vein, the CAR awarded gold and diamond mining licenses to another of Prigozhin’s businesses, after Wagner was deployed to train its army and provide personal security to embattled President Faustin-Archange Touadéra. (Prigozhin has regularly [denied](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-59699350) any connection to Wagner.)  Protesters hold a banner reading "Thank you Wagner," the name of the Russian private security firm in Mali, during a celebration of the French military withdrawal, Bamako, Feb. 19, 2022. FLORENT VERGNES/AFP via Getty Images ## Russia’s threat to democracy in Africa With the U.S. and French military draw-down in Africa, Russia is looking to prove itself as an alternative. Its [deployment to Mali](https://www.chathamhouse.org/2021/12/russias-presence-mali-raises-concerns) in December 2021 demonstrated the rapid support Moscow is able to offer struggling regimes. But Russia is also influencing from within. Since Putin’s embrace of the region in the last decade, political strategists have been sent to African governments, including those of the CAR and Madagascar, to counsel their leaders. The funding of pro-Russian television channels in Africa, electoral interference—even, indeed, the sponsoring of beauty pageants—are other methods to sway sentiment among Africans. The receptiveness of some African leaders to Russian overtures is meanwhile a threat to liberal democratic reforms. The growing tendency to request PMC support for mounting security challenges, as Russian influence increases among African societies, is a clear indicator of a deepening authoritarian footprint on the continent. **Read More:** [_China’s Embrace of Putin Is Looking More and More Costly_](https://time.com/6163807/china-russia-putin-ukraine/) The West needs to take notice. China has long outpaced Western countries to become [Africa’s biggest investor](https://africa.businessinsider.com/local/markets/china-ranks-ahead-of-america-as-the-largest-investor-in-africa-since-2010/62532rh), while the presence of Western troops in conflict-affected countries has not been enough to ensure Africa’s peace and security. The region needs sustained support, militarily and economically. If the West cannot provide it, it will lose ground. African abstentions from the U.N. vote to condemn Russian action in Ukraine shows that the West must not take its engagement with Africa for granted. Romanticizing democracy is not enough; thorough, long-term policy action and relationship-building with African states is a must. Just as Africa, and Russia, are re-evaluating their places on the world stage, now is the time for the West to renew its commitment to the continent. 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