Reported from the first ever Russia-Africa summit in Sochi for France 24, English Service, and also for the channels in depth programme “Eye on Africa”.
Some notes from my lives:
Russian President Vladimir Putin is hosting a charm offensive this week in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, welcoming dozens of African leaders to a new summit, that Putin wants to representing a significant milestone in Russia's ongoing outreach project to the continent.
The stake:
Moscow seeks trade agreements and partners for its large energy, mining and defence companies.
Moscow is demonstrating its willingness to restore ties with its Soviet-era partners, for example, Angola and Mozambique, and with countries that have been under Western influence, specifically, Morocco, Nigeria and South Africa.
Russia and Africa are trying to present themselves as a big player and an important player. Moscow offers cheap arm deals – expanding its military footprint in African nations. Putin's charm offensive is about seeking new opportunities for military co-operation. Russia is the major supplier of arms to the region, but the volume of exports to Asia is bigger.
Yet, the defence relationship between Russia and Africa is growing. Since 2014, military co-operation agreements have been signed with 19 African countries.
Russia's military ties extend beyond arms exports and involve the use of private mercenary groups. The Wagner Group mercenary organisation, for example, is confirmed or believed to have deployed to the CAR, Mozambique, Madagascar, Sudan and Libya in recent years.
The war-torn Central African Republic is home to perhaps Moscow’s closest African relationship. Russia has been active in the Central African Republic, officially helping to support the embattled government, providing security to the government – safeguarding key economic assets. The mercenaries — reportedly supplied by a company with connections to the Kremlin — guard CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, who appointed a former Russian spy as his top security adviser. Meanwhile, Russian companies have received diamond mining concessions from the government.
With Western nations, Russia has sought to play on African concerns of neo-colonialism and political coercion. Less restrained by public opinion and concerns for human rights or transparency, Russia has also courted authoritarian regimes that face condemnation from the U.S and Europe.
Russia appears to be acting out of self interest also. It is perceived as if a lot of deals have been made, but Russia does not have the capability of over-investing, nor to compete with investment giants in Africa such as China and the US in Africa.
Also, Putin seems to prefer semi-authoritarian leaders because he sees stable governments in them, and he looks for common ground.
What the concrete outcome of the cooperations decided here will be, remains to be seen.
In a nutshell, Moscow is getting good at taking advantage of its own self interest by setting up partnerships and helping African nations to stand up to the west, saying that they have common interests with its future partners by striking deals worth billions of rubles.
Economically speaking, Russia is not in a state where it can compete with other investment giants, such as the US and China.