Paul Goble
Staunton, June 1 – While the Kremlin rarely misses an opportunity to denounce what it calls Western neo-colonialism in Africa, the Russian Federation is carrying out its own form of colonialism there which currently has four main components not so different from what it denounces in others –mercenaries, missionaries, miners, and now media.
Russia’s use of mercenaries to prop up and keep in power African leaders who would otherwise have to leave office, the Moscow Patriarchate’s promotion of sub-Saharan Africa as a place for its expansion, and its desire to exploit the natural resources of the region are well-known.
And they are now being solidified by Russian propagandists who have their own outlets in Africa and are opening more at a time when Western countries are cutting back in particular in that region as well as others. As a result, Moscow is building its own empire in Africa that may very well outlast Putin.
For a useful survey of all these activities, see (meduza.io/feature/2025/05/29/rossiya-vsego-za-neskolko-let-poluchila-obshirnuyu-sferu-vliyaniya-v-afrike-pomogli-naemniki-krupnye-kompanii-tserkov-i-propaganda.
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