[2]
This year’s visit is to Ethiopia, Tanzania, Somalia, and Lesotho. Russia’s diplomatic engagement with Africa lags behind China’s, but Moscow is working to increase it. In December 2025 it held the second Russia-Africa Ministerial Conference in Egypt, the first of the series launched in 2019 to take place in Africa. A main objective of the conference was to set the stage for the upcoming 2026 Russia-Africa Summit, to be held in Ethiopia in October, with a secondary goal being to begin drafting the 2026- 2029 strategic action plan between Russia and Africa. This paper, the first in a series of four, will analyze Russian and Chinese interests and influence in Africa, and provide an overview of their use of diplomatic, informational, military, and economic instruments to advance their goals on the continent. Africa arguably matters more for Russia and China than it has at any time in recent history, for several reasons. For Russia, its relations with African states serve to demonstrate that Western attempts to isolate it have failed. In addition, Africa’s volatile security environment - to which Russia sometimes contributes - offers fertile ground for Moscow’s newly-minted Africa Corps (the latest incarnation of the notorious Wagner Group) to operate. For China, Africa is a key node in its attempt to establish an alternative system of global order centered on Beijing. China’s flagship economic and security initiatives, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Global Development Initiative (GDI), and Global Security Initiative (GSI), are all active in Africa. For both Russia and China, Africa offers another advantage over many parts of the world: a light US footprint, set to get even lighter as the Trump Administration focuses US foreign policy on the Western Hemisphere. Since both Moscow and Beijing believe the US is determined to limit their freedom of action in areas of the world it deems important, the relative lack of US presence in Africa offers opportunities other areas do not. But this may prove a double-edged sword: with the US often seen as the “binding agent” in Russian-Chinese relations, the two may find that absent the incentive to cooperate against the US, their interests in Africa are not as aligned as they seem. [3]
“Africa is a key node in China’s attempt to establish an alternative system of global order centered on Beijing.”
// RUSSIA AND CHINA IN AFRICA Delphi Global Research Center
Made with FlippingBook Annual report maker