By Kester Kenn Klomegah*
MOSCOW | 26 May 2025 (IDN) — Tatiana Dovgalenko, Director of the African Partnership Department at Russia’s Foreign Ministry, praised policy achievements and reaffirmed Russia’s commitment to supporting Africa’s economic transformation in her mid-May interview report for Africa Day on 25 May.
She also emphasized Russia’s dedication to increasing investment guarantees and ensuring sustainable security on the continent. From a geopolitical standpoint, Russia essentially expresses readiness to reset the multifaceted relationship with Africa after it scaled back its diplomatic relations for more than two decadesfollowing the Soviet collapse in 1991.
“Today, when Russian-African relations are undergoing a renaissance after the period of inattention caused by the collapse of the USSR and a period of qualitative transformation is underway,” Dovgalenko said and acknowledged further that the creation of a new structure in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs testifies to the unconditional priority and a long-term choice in favour of strengthening ties with the Global South and particularly Africa.
The Department for Partnership with Africa was created within the Russian Foreign Ministry. It includes the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum, established in 2020, tasked with preparing and organising Russian-African meetings at the highest levels, facilitating other events in the Russia-Africa format, as well as coordinating the implementation of agreements signed between departments and with African partners.
The work of the Foreign Ministry is currently based on the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum Action Plan for 2023-2026, approved by the Kremlin. The document covers a wide range of spheres of cooperation, from security, trade and investment to education, agriculture, science, culture and others, with a deadline set for 2026. The third Russia-Africa Summit is scheduled in an African capital city in 2026.
Geopolitical Perspectives
According to the interview text, Moscow is seriously pursuing a qualitative shift in relations with Africa after years of post-Soviet disengagement, focusing on structured partnerships with regional organisations like ECOWAS, EAC, IGAD, COMESA, SADC, and ECCAS to boost political and economic collaboration.
Russia’s renewed interest in ECOWAS comes amid tensions between the bloc and Sahel countries such as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, which have recently exited ECOWAS while strengthening ties with Moscow. Russia played a key role in helping the African Union secure permanent membership in the G20 in 2023, reinforcing Africa’s global influence, and signifies Africa’s pivot towards multipolar cooperation and further supports a more balanced international order. The interest of African states in BRICS is growing. Today, South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia are full members of the association, and in January 2025, Nigeria and Uganda joined as partner states.
Economic and Investment Cooperation
From different perspectives, Africa consistently shows the motion for systemic economic transformation. But these ambitions are guided by individual states’ foreign policy and at the regional communities’ interest cum continental levels. In addition, African leaders and ministerial change-makers have showcased a strong solution approach towards driving result-oriented economic transformations. A glance at the outcomes of the first Russia-Africa summit under the theme ‘Russia and Africa: Uncovering the Potential for Cooperation’ indicated 92 bilateral agreements. In practical terms, several bilateral agreements were signed during the second summit, but in an objective assessment, so far, only very little has been achieved.
The scoreboard says Russia has excelled in various aspects, with geopolitical ties and tactical strategies, by penetrating back into Africa. Over 170 Russian companies and organisations submitted 280 proposals at the end of the first summit 2019. President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly increased trade volume to US$40 billion. He promised to strengthen economic ties in line with the 2063 concept agenda developed by the African Union (AU).
Later developments showed that Russia intends to reap approximately US$30 billion from increased exports to the African market. With military-technical cooperation, Russia would have full uninterrupted access to exploiting natural resources in Africa in exchange for offering partner-states military equipment and military training and ensuring security in war-torn and ethnic conflicting African countries such as Congo, Central African Republic, Mali, Niger, Libya and Sudan.
“Russia has always helped its African partners in defending their sovereignty, national interests and their legitimate role in the system of international relations,” according to the press service of the Russian Security Council on the eve of the 13th international security meeting on May 27-29 in Moscow.
Russian media reports indicated that Russia’s agricultural exports to Africa were worth over US$7 billion last year, up 19% compared to 2023. Supplies were delivered to 45 countries on the continent. In 2025, Russia targets to earn around US$15 billion from Africa. It implies doubling exports of a broad range of products to the continent.
Africa primarily attracts foreign players. Strategic economic partnerships with Japan, China, India, South Korea, the Arab world, the European Union, and the United States are well-funded. Key projects include renewable energy, transport and communications, infrastructure development, agriculture, et cetera are well-financed. These bilateral initiatives demonstrate economic diplomacy in practical actions on the continent. For instance, Japan’s International Cooperation Agency (JICA) programme, known as NINJA (Next Innovation Japan Africa), supports startups by providing technical assistance and mentorship, fostering entrepreneurship among youth and women. The following example is from the European Union (EU). The EU’s Global Gateway Strategy supports partnerships to drive innovation, industrialisation, and job creation, particularly in non-traditional sectors such as agribusiness, healthcare, and energy.
In 2025, the Global Gateway Strategy included a new focused direction, the Team Europe Initiative – Investing in Young Businesses in Africa (IYBA) to support early-stage businesses and young entrepreneurs, particularly women, with financial and technical resources. The project covers nine (9) African countries with €4 billion for Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Joint EU-Africa Strategy considers the most common interests and focuses on achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The EU has unveiled a €300 billion (US$340 billion) alternative to China’s Belt and Road initiative, an investment programme the bloc claims will bolster economic links in the continent and not foster dependencies.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has established the Russian-African Development Fund, under which “Russia will implement various projects in Africa aimed at strengthening the continent’s food, energy and economic sovereignty,” according to Dovgalenko. With criticisms emerging over the sluggish attitudes toward Africa regarding undertaking and financing policy projects, Russia has established a mechanism to provide systematic financial support for investment projects in Africa in 2025.
In December last year, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk underlined the fact that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the creation of an investment fund, without any specified amount, as a mechanism for supporting Russian companies interested in investing in projects in energy, transport and logistics, as well as mineral production on the African continent.
Over the past few years, Russia has announced several projects across Africa, from Egypt to South Africa and Abuja to Nairobi. This step was an effort to assert its economic presence. The construction and modernisation of hydroelectric power plants and the development of nuclear energy are priority projects for Russia. For example, it signed 28 agreements on Africa’s largest nuclear power plants.
Still, construction, on a loan of US$28 billion, began only in El Dabaa, Egypt, located in North Africa. Russia’s foreign policy, especially towards Africa, has delivered investments. The diplomatic posture has to move from reactive to proactive, with claims as a global influencer to show excellent results in Africa’s economic sectors, including building infrastructure, industrial and agricultural transformation, and energy security.
There is a huge gap in tourism and recreation (leisure), with many destinations lacking direct flights in both regions. The obstacles include the inability to open the aviation sector between Russia and Africa. As a result, boosting connectivity and trade and people-to-people interaction are limited.
Africa Indebted to Russia
Official statements established that Russia has written off US$20 bln worth of African debts. This step of liquidating debts allows those debts “to be used to implement socio-economic projects directly by those individual African countries.” Understandably, Africa, by simple definition, is not a single country but a vast continent comprising 54 States, and therefore, ‘Africa’ as a whole did not owe Russia. Several individual African countries interested in Russian military equipment and weaponry had received these on credit per bilateral military agreements signed with the Soviet Union and now Russia. Those individual African countries owed Russia. It’s an incorrect phrase that ‘Africa owed Russia’ in linguistic terms.
Notwithstanding that above, Russian officials have played this “debt song” since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Writing off debts has become the buzzword for policy resetting with Africa. It has been prominently featured in several speeches to win the sympathy of African leaders. “Around US$20 billion have been written off. We currently have a refinancing programme to divert debts to development projects,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, who also serves as special presidential envoy for the Middle East and Africa, told TASS in an interview following the First Ministerial Conference Russia-Africa, adding that it allows using those debts “to implement socio-economic projects directly in the country.”
The first ministerial conference of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum was held on November 9-10 in the Sirius Federal Territory on Russia’s Black Sea coast. The event was attended by about 1,500 delegates, including over 40 ministers from African countries.
Education and Culture
Perhaps in an arena of geopolitical rivalry and in the framework of playing the soft power, Russia’s youth education and training are gaining momentum, demonstrating some relative strength. According to Dovgalenko, Russian education continues to be prestigious and is in great demand among Africans as a quality mark. Today, over 32,000 African students study at our universities, of which over 8,000 are on a budget basis. Since 2022, the quota of scholarships for Africa has more than doubled to encompass 4,800 places. The most popular areas of study are medicine, economics, energy, international relations and construction. Specialities in the field of agriculture are increasingly in demand. Since the continent gained independence, hundreds of thousands of Africans (doctors, technicians, engineers, officers, teachers) have received professional training. And Russia is continuing the tradition of providing training and education.
In addition, there are some changes. Noticeably, a lot of private students are seeking enrolment in academic courses. Most often, African applicants, estimated at 25,000, are accepted by Russian universities from the continent’s middle and upper classes. Categorised as private students, these students pay hard-earned money for tuition. “The present and the future of Russia-Africa relations is not about charity. It’s about co-development,” stated Evgeny Primakov, Head of the Russian Federal Agency for International Humanitarian Cooperation (Rossotrudnichestvo) and also a member of the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum.
Lessons from China’s Partnerships
A careful study and analysis showed Russia’s attempts to catch up with Asian countries, such as China and India, in Africa. Policy analysts say Russia has to borrow one page from China. China’s economic footprints are incomparable to Russia. China-Africa relations have reached new heights and continue building a shared common future. China has also set and is pursuing action plans on the continent, with significant results. Currently, Chinese leader Xi Jinping made three concrete proposals, which constituted China’s new strategic Action Plan, which started in September 2023, as follows:
- i) China launched the Initiative on Supporting Africa’s Industrialization. China is harnessing its resources for cooperation with Africa, supporting Africa in growing its manufacturing sector and realising industrialisation and economic diversification.
(ii) China is supporting Africa’s Agricultural Modernization. It partners with Africa to expand grain plantations, encourages Chinese companies to increase agricultural investment in Africa, and enhances cooperation with Africa on seed and other areas of agro-technology. It is supporting Africa in transforming and upgrading its agrarian sector. More importantly, China has confidence that Africa will attain food self-sufficiency through its efforts.
(iii) China and Africa are cooperating on Talent Development. China trains 500 school principals and high-calibre teachers of vocational colleges every year and 10,000 technical personnel with Chinese language and vocational skills for Africa. China has invited 20,000 government officials and technicians from African countries to participate in workshops and seminars. It launched the China-Africa Universities 100 Cooperation Plan and 10 pilot exchange programs of China-Africa partner institutes to support Africa in strengthening education and innovation.
Comparative Summarised Points
The Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation, approved in March 2023 by Russian President Vladimir Putin, clearly states Russia’s intention to “contribute to the further development of Africa as an authentic and influential centre of global development“.
The most recognisable aspect, in short, is that Russia is now rising from its long state of slumber and has declared the highest interest in Africa. And so what has to be considered under this circumstance is Russia and Africa need multiple cohesive engagements and strategic and purposeful cooperation rather than engaging in anti-western confrontation. With its renewed commitment, Russia should focus on policy implementation despite the existing challenges. The future of Russia-Africa relations lies in taking audacious steps toward actualising those several bilateral agreements and promptly showing tangible results.
By prioritising frequent dialogue and collaboration, at least, Russia has made modest policy progress and groundbreaking achievements since the first Russia-Africa summit in 2019. Besides Russia, there are significant strategic ties with Africa from the Middle East, Asia, Europe, and the Americas. These have resulted in tangible outcomes: direct investments, concessional loans, visa waivers and expanded export markets. With the heightened geopolitical situation and its associated evolving cultural trends and resonating economic opportunities, Africa is simply open to the world and getting connected indiscriminately to the emerging multipolar world.
*Kester Kenn Klomegah has diverse work experience in policy research and business consultancy. His focused interest includes questions related to geopolitical changes, foreign relations, and economic development in Africa with key global powers. [IDN-InDepthNews]
Image source: ChatGPT
