Russia is selling Africa dependence disguised as partnership

This week, Moscow will host the third Russia-Africa summit, bringing together African leaders as President Vladimir Putin seeks to expand Russia’s economic, military and political reach across the continent. Yet Russia’s growing influence has done far more to advance Moscow’s interests and protect allied rulers than to deliver the prosperity and security promised to ordinary Africans.Putin is scheduled to cochair Thursday’s plenary session with Burundian President Evariste Ndayishimiye, current chair of the African Union. Alongside the summit, a two-day economic and humanitarian forum will discuss investment, industrial production, food security, energy, technology and payment systems. Organisers have placed trade and investment at the centre of the programme with a new plan for 2027-2029 expected to advance what they call “mutually beneficial cooperation”.On August 20, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova outlined plans for another substantial round of intergovernmental agreements and commercial contracts at the Moscow summit. The Sochi gathering in October 2019 produced 92 agreements, and Putin pledged to double annual trade to $40bn. Four years later,...