Moscow continues its promotion of a “multipolar world”

The Kremlin intends to offer, on Saturday, November 9 and Sunday, November 10, a new illustration of “multipolar world” which he wants to promote in his face-to-face meeting with Westerners, during a ministerial conference on the Russia-Africa partnership in Sochi, on the shores of the Black Sea. According to the organizers, senior officials from about fifty countries will participate in this meeting.

It occurs after the October BRICS summit in Kazan (Russia), where President Vladimir Putin wanted to demonstrate the failure of the policy of isolation and sanctions initiated against his country by Western States after the Russian attack on Ukraine in February 2022.

For several years, Russia, which was a key player in Africa during the Soviet era, has been pushing its pawns toward African countries, which have not been convinced by the West to join its sanctions against Moscow.

Military and informational influence.

Russian mercenary groups like Wagner, or its successor Africa Corps, support local powers and “advisors”According to Moscow, they officiate with African officials. This is particularly the case in the Central African Republic and, above all, in the Sahel countries, where Russia’s growing influence has been accompanied by the meteoric decline of France’s.

In 2023, Russia will deliver weapons to the African continent worth more than $5 billion (€4.6 billion), according to the Russian public company Rosoboronexport. And its large groups are very interested in African raw materials: Alrosa in Angola and Zimbabwe (diamonds); Lukoil in Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and the Republic of the Congo (oil); Rusal in Guinea (bauxite)…

In parallel with a strategy of information influence, particularly on social networks, Moscow continues the development of its network of cultural centers, the Russian Houses, with six openings announced in September in Guinea, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Chad.

Responsible, according to Moscow, for promoting Russian culture and language in Africa, their real objective is “spread Kremlin narratives about international events”estimates researcher Ivan Klyszcz, from the International Center for Defense and Security, in Estonia.

The rhetoric of the organizers of the Russia-Africa conference in Sochi, against “neocolonialism” EITHER “the common fight against Western propaganda”finds resonance among some African leaders. According to Russian political analyst Konstantin Kalachev, many appreciate “those who can resist and punch the Westerners”and they see Vladimir Putin as “well capable” to play this role.

But for Bakary Sambé, director of the Timbuktu Institute in Dakar, one question remains: “Would Russia have the same interest in Africa if the war in Ukraine ended?” » Is she a “real strategic priority”Or a temporary interest linked to its confrontation with NATO?

“Opinion is beginning to disconnect”

At the beginning of the 2022 offensive against kyiv, when Russia imposed a blockade on Ukrainian grain in the Black Sea, several African countries were sensitive to Moscow’s arguments, which blamed the West for the risks of famine, attributed to the sanctions.

During the first eight months of 2024, Russia exported 14.8 million tons of wheat to twenty-five African countries, or 14.4% more compared to the same period last year, according to official statistics. But, according to Bakary Sambé, “Public opinion is beginning to disconnect from this narrative around Ukraine, especially as Africa has found ways of resilience in the face of fear of a food and grain crisis”.

Furthermore, maintaining a partnership and wanting to develop economic relations with Russia does not mean wanting to sever ties with the West, as demonstrated by Egypt, which remains a key strategic ally of Washington.

The nature of the ties with Russia has also generated controversy in South Africa, another African giant with close historical relations with Moscow. When President Cyril Ramaphosa described Russia as a“dear ally” and“beautiful friend”the governing partner of his party, the African National Congress, sharply contradicted him: the Democratic Alliance assured on October 23 that it did not consider “neither Russia, nor Vladimir Putin, as an ally of our nation”.