The third Russia-Africa Summit opened in Moscow this week as a deliberate exercise in statecraft, with the Kremlin positioning itself before dozens of African governments as an alternative to Western powers it accuses of acting like latter-day colonial administrators. The two-day gathering, first convened in 2019, drew leaders and government delegations from 48 countries. President Vladimir Putin used his platform to frame the contest in explicitly institutional terms: who sets the rules of global finance, who controls debt, and who benefits.
Addressing the summit, Putin told African leaders that Russia was their best partner. What he described as a colonial-minded West, he argued, was still trying to exploit the continent’s resources and using debt to hold back development. He pointed to what he called active attempts by Western countries to drive Africans back into debt bondage and to impose predatory terms on financial resources the continent urgently needs, conditions he said slowed long-term development. He did not name any of the countries he had in mind.
The remarks come against the backdrop of a broader institutional strategy. Wooing leaders from the Global South has become an important part of Moscow’s effort to counterbalance Western pressure on the world stage over its war in Ukraine. The summit itself functions as a venue for bilateral statecraft: Putin was scheduled to hold one-on-one talks with many of the 22 individual African leaders in attendance, covering trade, security, arms deals and grain supplies.
Beyond rhetoric, Putin laid out concrete policy positions aimed at institutions and economic structures. Russia, he said, champions greater African influence within the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and stands ready to pursue joint transport and agricultural infrastructure projects. On trade, he contrasted Russia’s approach with that of Western powers, saying Russian business does not engage in what he called predatory, neo-colonial exploitation of natural and human resources, but instead expands local processing of raw materials, creating jobs and generating tax revenue. He added that Russia was prepared to share its know-how, including digital expertise, and to localise production rather than simply purchase raw materials.
The claims sit within a contested accountability record. Western governments have accused Russia’s paramilitary forces of propping up military juntas, including the one in Mali, in order to shore up Moscow’s geopolitical influence and squeeze out former colonial powers such as France. Moscow rejects those accusations. Western critics have also regularly accused Putin himself of trying to leverage Africa’s colonial past for Russia’s own benefit.
Meanwhile, Russian state activity across the continent extends well beyond the summit hall. Paramilitary fighters from Russia’s Africa Corps remain active in Africa, while Russian state media and cultural institutions work to expand their footprint and state companies push to grow their interests in sectors ranging from mining to power generation.
Food security featured prominently in the Russian leader’s pitch, framed as a measure of delivery rather than diplomacy. Putin said Moscow stood ready to supply grain and fertiliser to more than the 40 African countries that currently receive them, noting that Russia had supplied 13 million metric tonnes of agricultural products to the continent in the first nine months of this year alone. He also highlighted educational ties, saying a record number of Africans, around 40,000, are currently studying at Russian universities.
In his framing, the summit marks a shift in global governance that established powers are resisting. Africa is increasingly asserting itself as one of the key players in the global economy and politics, Putin told delegates, but the emergence of a multipolar world is no easy task because it faces resistance from countries unprepared to accept that reality, countries he said were accustomed to thinking in terms of their colonial past and to enriching themselves fabulously.
Whether African governments accept Moscow’s account of who offers fairer terms remains the central question the summit leaves open, and one that will be tested in the bilateral deals and institutional commitments negotiated behind the scenes in Moscow.