Russia is working to strengthen economic and military ties in Africa, Moscow outlines.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declared on Monday that Russia’s presence in Africa is “growing.” The move is part of Moscow’s ongoing bid to step into West Africa’s geopolitical vacuum amid a series of regional military coups.
“We intend to comprehensively develop our interactions with African countries, focusing primarily on the interactions between economy and investment,” Peskov told reporters.
“This will also be extended to sensitive areas such as defense and security,” he added.
The role of Russia’s security in parts of Africa, including countries such as Mali, the Central African Republic and Equatorial Guinea, has been seen with concern in the West, and has recently come at the expense of former colony power France, which has either left several countries in West Africa or exiled from the United States.
The Kremlin ambitions appear to be uninterrupted by recent reports that Russian paramilitary group Wagner is leaving Mali after helping the troops fight the armed groups.