Ideological Agenda of Russian Information Influence in Africa

Russian information operations in Africa are a tool to expand Russia ’ s presence on the continent and to turn African countries into allies of Russia in its confrontation with the West. This article focuses on the ideological content of Russian information influence in African countries— specifically a set of narratives and ideas that Russia seeks to root in the information environment of African countries. Russian information operations in Africa are multidimensional, malleable, and opportunistic. It is hard to find a sphere of social life where Russians are not present—from daily life of small villages to cooperation in the nuclear sphere and space industry. The content of Russian communication is designed to be efficient in all dimensions of information environments of the target countries, and it is presented by three groups of actors: Russian top government officials, the Russian Orthodox Church, and representatives of Russian public diplomacy including Rossotrudnichestvo, Russkiy Mir Foundation, and other organizations. While the content of communication and its style differs depending on the group of communicators and the target audience, a general frame of a grand narrative, and even ideological framework, exists particularly for the African countries. Decolonization. Dewesternization. Modernization. Russian official communication carried out by top diplomats and by President Putin himself is built on the basic Russian strategic narrative. This narrative focuses on the necessity to tear down the existing, Western-led system of international law and institutions to create a new multipolar world order. Russia presents this narrative to African countries as the idea of fighting against Western neocolonialism and finishing the process of decolonization. This is a grand and multilayered framework that covers narratives in a broad number of spheres: from international politics and economics to historical memory and the ideational part of Russian information operations. First and foremost, Russian authorities, using the existing decolonial discourse, insist that the economic success of Western countries is not due to the competitive advantages of liberal democratic systems but to Western neocolonialism. In other words, the West, through spreading Western governance models, created a world order that allows it to continue exploiting its former colonies and other countries. Thus decolonization means dewesternization , which according to Russian expectations presumes political rapprochement with Russia and recognition of Russia’s “discourse power” or “right to speak.”  In official interstate communication with African countries, the Russian authorities adhere to a black-and-white approach, pitting Russia against the West, and declare that partnership with Russia will provide the benefits of modernization and protection . The goal of Russian information influence in Africa is to widen the area of shared knowledge and values. Therefore, educational and scientific cooperation, Russian language and culture training programs, and training for journalists are an important part of Russian information operations through which Russia expands its circle of sympathizers and disseminators of Russian narratives and ideas. The narrative about “modernization with Russia” rests on a fruitful ground of persistent African poverty despite resource wealth. Russia declares that its approach to partnership with African countries differs from the Western one due to the intention to share knowledge to help in modernization. Published data of such cooperation looks quite modest. For instance, only about 35,000 African students are studying in Russian universities, and the Russian-African Network University, created in 2021, engages 75 Russian and 27 African participants (11 of which are from Zimbabwe). However, Russia effectively promotes itself—even with such modest initiatives—and expands cooperation in areas of interest to African countries. An example is the establishment of the public professional association of technical universities of Africa Consortium of Universities “Subsoil of Africa” at St. Petersburg Mining University in 2023. The collaboration involves over 130 organizations from 42 African countries. Participation is presented by African voices as an opportunity to cooperate with partners “whose philosophy is different from that one of the West” (Tjekero Tweya) and as an initiative that will help “to develop the full value chain of the mineral sector in Africa without being slavishly dependent on the West” (Paul Omojo Omaji). The narrative about “Russia as a protector and stabilizing force” embraces three main messages: 1) Russia is a protector of African countries’ interests by advocating for fairer representation in the UN and protecting political regimes from foreign interference; 2) Russia supports traditional values in African societies by countering liberal influences; 3) Russia will support allied political regimes by all necessary means (including military assistance). The UN possesses an important role in Russian international communication in general and with African countries in particular. Referring to the principle of sovereign equality, written in Article 2 of the UN Charter of 1945, the Russian leadership promotes the concept of “democratization of international relations,” which—in the Russian interpretation—means the inviolability of authoritarian regimes and impunity for their leaders regardless of human rights and international law violations. It is worth noting that although Russian leadership, including Putin himself, declares the invalidity of international humanitarian law, Lavrov in his communication with the African countries persistently mentions international humanitarian law as an important instrument of international relations. However, he notes that the US themselves do not recognize the authority of International Criminal Court by obstructing investigations into ”Washington's possible war crimes in Afghanistan.” Combining the concept of “democratization of international relations,” or literally the inviolability of political regimes, with the idea of protection of traditional values, Russia undermines the idea of the universal character of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The Russian strategic narrative about the “conflict of values” adds ideational features to Russian information influence in general.