OPINION: Africa, Salvation Does Not Lie In Moscow

The protesters were like scenes taken directly from the Kremlin’s playbook on Africa as they waved Russian flags in Kano, Abuja and some northern states in the End Bad Governance protests in Nigeria in 2024. On the surface, it was just some disgruntled citizens protesting against the Nigerian government. But in all probability, it points to Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) in the country.

The protestors, mainly northern Muslims, perhaps influenced by the hundreds of reels regaling Burkina Faso strongman, Ibrahim Traore, and the glorious dawn of the country no thanks to his alliance with Russia, were persuaded that their answers lie with Vladimir Putin. In a region plagued by foreign interference and democratic decline, Traoré’s AI fiery message resonates with disillusioned youth. Despite mounting violence and authoritarianism, many view him as a bold challenger to Western dominance they blame for their hardships. Wrong!

One can pardon the ignorance of the protestors and the hundreds of disenchanted youths as well as the juntas of the Alliance of Sahel States, AES, on the continent for looking to the Kremlin as the long awaited saviour from the economic and social ironies that are telling and have become hallmarks of a continent in search of meaning and purpose. A historical context is germane in situating the Greek Horse that is the Kremlin’s “love” for Africa and Africans especially Islam.

History indicates that the Russian state consistently institutionalized, coopted, and controlled Islamic authority from the Volga-Ural area to the Caucasus and Central Asia and is expanding that influence to Africa. It is important to understand this long trajectory so as to clarify the nature of contemporary Russian power and its religious policy, including why and how it uses religious infrastructure to legitimize authority and suppress dissent and why independent Islamic scholarship and nationally oriented elites remain structurally constrained. Russia has again leveraged religious narratives and institutions to fulfill its mobilizational and propaganda aims in Ukraine. Do they look like a country that keeps to bargain?

What Africans ought to realise by now is that the Kremlin is in a power mongering race like the West. But in its case, it is brutal, inane propaganda and leaves the conquered further impoverished, denuded and more divided. It brokers no democracy. It is steeped in authoritarianism and brute face. Opposition is an anathema and Putin is the supreme leader. Is this the fate that misguided Africans want for the continent? Yes, the West itself cannot be excused from some of these, but they are benign and offers partnership opportunities contrary to what Moscow offer.

Scholars have argued, and rightly so, that Putin’s rapprochement with Muslims is inseparable from the strategy of geopolitical expansion, and the restoration of the glories of the ancient empire in its areas of influence in the Balkans and other areas with Islamic presence. What Moscow is doing is an attempt to counter the encroachment and expansion of the European Union and NATO. Russia is trying to overcome the mistakes of the past by alienating millions of Muslims.

For those who may not know, for decades, the Russian State waged a war of attrition against Chechnya. It was a merciless, savage conflict that killed tens of thousands of civilians, mainly Muslims, in Chechnya. Historians say that the First Chechen war served as a prologue to other conflicts unleashed by the Kremlin, including the war in Ukraine. The bloody campaign continued with varying success until the end of August 1996, followed by Second Chechen war, which cemented Russian President Vladimir Putin’s power. So, you see that a legacy steeped in blood and aggression does not bode well in the long run.

What the Russian Federation is doing in Africa is transactional democracy and it is about time that countries on the continent shun the Kremlin and seek for more constructive engagements. With the ongoing war against Ukraine in its fifth year now, Moscow has not shied away through Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference (FIMI) to lure desperate, young Africans to their deaths on the frontlines instead of the lucrative jobs on offer.
It is commendable that some African countries are beginning to show growing signs of irritation with Moscow for luring their citizens to fight and die on the Russian army’s frontlines.

As at February 2026, the investigative journalism organization INPACT estimated that over 1,417 Africans had served in the Russian army or mercenary organizations, and 316 had died in combat. If Africans fought in wars and conflicts for European colonial powers in the 18th, 19th and even 20th Centuries, why should any African be caught in the web of Russia’s aggression in the 21st Century? For too long have Africans suffered for the ambitions of other continents and get little or no recognition.

It is consoling that African countries are speaking out against the execrable recruitment of Africans in Russia’s war in Ukraine. Ghana’s foreign minister, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, in January was quoted as saying that nearly 300 Ghanaians had been drawn into the fighting, many lured by job offers that became military deployments. According to Ablakwa, 55 of them had died. “They have no security background. They have no military background. They have not been ⁠trained,” he said in a news conference. “They were just lured and deceived ⁠and then put on the frontlines.”

Similarly, a February intelligence report to Kenya’s parliament detailed that 1,000 Kenyans had been recruited to fight for Russia, and 89 were on the frontlines as of that time. It further noted that one Kenyan had died, 39 were hospitalized, and 28 were missing in action. Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi called the trafficking “unacceptable and clandestine” and called for an agreement with Moscow barring the recruitment of Kenyans.

Moreover, it hasn’t been just the Russian government doing the recruiting. News reports indicate the Russian Orthodox Church in Kenya, which now has a growing presence there, had encouraged citizens to travel to Russia.

Similarly, South Africa, a BRICS member nation that has preserved strong ties with Russia, announced February 26 that two of its nationals had died fighting for Moscow. Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola visited the families of 11 citizens whose return to South Africa had been negotiated. The men had been promised security training in Russia. In November, officials had received a call for help from South Africans who said they were trapped fighting with Russian mercenaries in Donbas.

Nigeria’s Foreign Ministry likewise warned its citizens in February against fighting in foreign conflicts. The ministry did not name Russia, but said several Nigerians “were deployed to combat zones after being misled and coerced into signing military service contracts.”

Nigerians in particular, and Africans in general ought to by now smell the coffee and realise that their destinies do not lie towards Moscow, rather amongst themselves and should pick the plough and work out their salvation like the Bible says.

Amajama, a social commentator, writes from Abuja and can be reached via [email protected]