'There's clearly a marketplace for Russian in Africa - but it's not about institution building'

To display this content from YouTube, you must enable advertisement tracking and audience measurement. One of your browser extensions seems to be blocking the video player from loading. To watch this content, you may need to disable it on this site. Cover image: © France 24 07:43 Issued on: 29/10/2026 - 11:43Modified: 29/10/2026 - 11:47 Oliver Farry is pleased to welcome Alex Vines, Africa Program Director at the European Council on Foreign Relations. He takes us through Russia's African paradox involving diplomatic Influence, security dependence and the politics of multipolarity. Moscow is gaining diplomatic traction across the continent even as its security partnerships, information operations and recruitment practices raise troubling questions about sovereignty, accountability and the human costs of geopolitical competition. For Vines, the participation of 48 African countries and 22 heads of state and government in the latest Russia-Africa summit illustrates the continuing appeal, of Moscow as a diplomatic and strategic partner. Keywords for this article Video content Video Africa Video content Video Africa Video content Video Europe