Russia to open more cultural centres in Africa as it seeks to broaden influence

Russia is expanding its network of cultural and educational centres in Africa as it seeks to strengthen ties beyond its military and security co-operation on the continent. The centres will promote the Russian language, education, science and culture, while supporting various projects, Russia’s humanitarian agency says. Known as “Russian Houses”, eight of 11 new centres are due to open in Africa, where 16 have already been set up over the years. Russia’s state-controlled paramilitary force African Corps, which replaced the Wagner Group’s mercenary operations, has become a key security partner for multiple military governments in the West Africa in the fight against jihadist insurgencies. In particular the juntas in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso turned to the Russian mercenaries, now Africa Corps, as they sought to shrug off influence from their former colonial power France.

French and other anti-jihadist international forces have withdrawn from these countries, including the UN’s operation in Mali that ended in December 2023. This year has also seen a surge in the reported number of African fighters caught up in the Russia-Ukraine war. Kenya, which has seen some of the highest numbers of recruits, blamed job agencies for luring men to Russia with work opportunities, only for them to end up fighting in Ukraine. Russia has said its foreign recruits all joined voluntarily ”in full compliance with Russian law” – but agreed in March not to deploy Kenyans to the front . According to Russia’s humanitarian agency Rossotrudnichestvo, Russia now aims to cultivate longer-term relationships through scholarships, universities, language programmes, cultural events and exchanges. “We’re significantly changing the programme itself. We’re increasing the intensity of our work and the…