Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered what he called “full support” for Africa, including in the fight against terrorism and extremism.
This speech was read at a conference held at the Black Sea resort in Sochi by Russian Minister Sergey Lavrov speaking to his African colleagues.
Many African governments have cut ties with traditional Western allies and are looking to Moscow for help in dealing with frequent jihadist attacks.
During the conference, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Burkina Faso, Karamoko Jean-Marie Traoré, said that Russia is a more suitable international partner than the former colonial power, France.
It's a view shared by several of France's former colonies – and echoed by Mali's Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop, who compared the Kremlin's “sincere” relationship with the “neo-colonial” relationship of Western powers.
He said that along with military cooperation, Mali is looking at other joint projects in the fields of energy, telecommunications, technology and mining.
“Russian companies are working in all these areas with the Malian government [private] partners in Mali to provide solutions to the challenges facing the Malian people. The two parties agreed to increase the speed to ensure quick results,” he said on the second and last day of the conference of African foreign ministers.
Wagner mercenary fighters – now renamed under the Africa Corps banner by the Russian defense ministry – were handpicked by military leaders who ordered French and UN troops to leave.
Russian aid, which is often traded for raw materials, comes with the promise that there will be no interference in the country's internal affairs or lessons on how elections are held.
However, Russian military expeditions to Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have helped protect junta leaders there, but have failed to make much progress in the fight against Islamist militants.
Still, the Kremlin is trumpeting these newfound friends, and Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the summit dashed Western hopes that Russia would be isolated.
And Lavrov said that Russia's relations with Africa are very strong and progressing “on all axes”.
Putin's speech underscored this point.
“I would like to emphasize that our country will continue to provide full support to our African friends in different fields: ensuring sustainable development, the fight against terrorism and extremism, fighting epidemics, food problems and the effects of natural disasters,” the statement said.
Emanuela Del Re, the EU's special representative for the Sahel region in West Africa, told the BBC that the West needs to accept the shifting sands of loyalty.
While Russia was “a very aggressive actor”, the Italian spokesman explained that it had strong ties with Africa going back to before independence and was not alone in its interest in the Sahel.
“It's mostly a desert but actually the region is very dense: because right now you see Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran … all EU member states and the UK,” he said.
In fact, African leaders were right about their need to “diversify their relations”, said Ms Del Re, adding that it was not time for the EU to abandon what it called the “three difficult countries” of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger. all of whom have had coups in recent years.
His point was that it should not be seen as a competition.
Rwanda, which has strong ties with the UK and the West, is one of several African countries that have already signed deals with Moscow for help in building a nuclear power plant.
Rwandan Foreign Minister Olivier Nduhungirehe, also in Sochi, told the AFP news agency that hundreds of Rwandan students have graduated from Russian universities, including “those specializing in nuclear science”.
“We hope that we will be able to train a certain number of scientific managers who are experts in this field,” he added.
Five years ago, Putin promised to double trade with Africa – this has not happened.
But using other methods, which the West sees as destabilizing the continent, Russia's influence has grown significantly.
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