In Niger and Burkina Faso (West Africa), Russian-language billboards began to appear after Russian-backed coups booted out US and French soldiers in 2022 and 2023. Nearby in Nigeria, a massive citizen protest in August against corruption and a cost-of-living crisis saw ominous signs of youths waving Russian flags, sparking concerns that the Kremlin’s sophisticated disinformation projects were in the mix too. The USSR was an eager supplier of weapons and political support for many African nations fighting anti-colonialism wars in the 1960s and 1970s. Yet the Russian language didn’t make a big foray into the African continent compared to French and English. When the anti-colonial struggles waned, local interest in the Russian language practically ended.
“Moscow support ended at supplying weapons and training for anti-colonialism guerillas. Very few Africans, steeped in traditions of Arabic, English, and French colonialism, were eager to learn the Russian language,” says political analyst Kimberly Mutandiro in South Africa. The fall of the Soviet Union, too, meant Moscow didn’t have much money to spread its language projects across Africa—a vast continent of 52 countries—unlike in Central Europe and Eurasia, where Russian-language cultures were already rooted.
As Russia’s war against Ukraine rages on in its third year, Moscow is keen to retain diplomatic support across Africa as a bulwark against fierce rebuke in Europe and the US. So, Moscow has widened its battle against Ukraine and the West to a distant theater—Africa. Russia and its notorious Wagner mercenaries are backing a wave of anti-Western coups by militaries in Africa, displacing civilian governments in Burkina Faso, Niger, and Mali. Meanwhile, Russian language campaigns are creeping up in other African countries, a sign of Moscow’s sophisticated soft power. For example, in Niger, a poster child of pro-Russia coup regimes, a Russian language center opened in the capital, Niamey. Its name is Center for Russian Language and Culture “Russian Space,” announced the Sputnik news outlet. In September, the Russian diplomatic mission in Niger followed up with the offer of free Russian language classes for any citizen wishing to take up the language.
Not to be outdone, in another country where Moscow backed an anti-West coup, the Burkinabe government announced in April that Russian language lessons would be rolled out in local schools. In Mali, another West African state where Russian-backed coup-generals are in power, the People’s Friendship University of Russia opened a Russian language academy at country’s biggest university in December 2023.
“It’s an overdo, but Moscow is eyeing the long game,” political analyst Batsi Mashiza says of the sprint to open Russian language academies across Africa. Russia is eyeing critical minerals in unstable African countries and at the same time solidifying the diplomatic support it gets from African states in its battle against Ukraine. Ray Mwareya