Guinea, Congo, Burkina Faso, and finally Chad. The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, has embarked on a new diplomatic tour of Africa since Monday, June 3, with the usual anti-Western overtones.
The Kremlin has greatly accelerated its campaign for influence on the African continent in recent years, well accompanied by military putsches driving out regimes close to the West and France, particularly in the anti-jihadist fight.
But if certain African countries seem to have already very clearly adhered to the Russian narrative, whether the regime of Assimi Goïta in Mali or the military junta in power since September 2023 in Niger, the choice of these four countries for this new tour does not It’s nothing by chance. Whether it is Guinea, Chad or Congo-Brazzaville, and to a lesser extent Burkina Faso, the governments at the head of these countries are not among the most vindictive towards Paris, despite the beginnings of a shift more and more clearly operated towards Moscow.
Allies for its conflict in Ukraine
The Kremlin understood this well, and this new African tour by Sergei Lavrov was once again intended to be particularly aggressive towards the West. Visiting Congo this Tuesday, the head of Russian diplomacy assured President Denis Sassou Nguesso of his support for his initiative for a reconciliation conference in Libya, a country still fractured into two rival administrations. The opportunity above all to attack its Western rivals. “The same thing happened in Iraq and Afghanistan, where the West wanted to impose its mode of democracy. The most important thing today is to find an approach that will ensure the recovery of the country,” launched Sergei Lavrov.
But the Libyan subject is also a perfect pretext to get to the heart of the Russian minister’s visit: the war in Ukraine. For Lavrov, the idea is to criticize the parallel between the disorder created by the West in the world, particularly in Africa, and Western support for the Kiev regime. Thus “President Sassou showed understanding” regarding “our actions” in Ukraine, declared Sergei Lavrov. “He understands well that Ukraine is the instrument of the West, whose objective is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia,” he said.
Behind these words, an equally very precise objective: to continue the Russian campaign of destabilization and denigration around the conference on peace in Ukraine, scheduled for June 15 and 16 in Switzerland, and to which Russia was not guest. Thus, according to Lavrov, the Congolese president, “like other world leaders”, would be convinced that this event “has no meaning” without the participation of Moscow. For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed at the start of the week 106 participating countries, and denounced pressure attempts by Russia and China to prevent states from going to Switzerland.
Russian influence in the Sahel
Beyond the Ukrainian issue and the search for new allies in his war in Ukraine, Sergei Lavrov also took advantage of this tour to ensure lasting support from Moscow in the Sahel. This is particularly the case in Burkina Faso, which has already largely turned its back on France and turned towards Russia. And this, particularly since the coming to power of Captain Ibrahim Traoré following a putsch, in September 2022.
Visiting Ouagadougou this Wednesday, the head of Russian diplomacy announced that the number of Russian instructors in Burkina Faso would “increase”. “At the same time, we are training representatives of the armed forces and law enforcement of Burkina Faso in Russia. This type of partnership is therefore very concrete and has made a lot of progress. […] We have long-standing relations with Burkina Faso, and with the arrival of President Traoré to power, these relations have received a new impetus,” continued Sergei Lavrov.
Burkina Faso has been confronted for nearly ten years with jihadist violence which has left thousands dead and more than two million internally displaced. A fight against which France was particularly engaged over the last decade, before seeing itself largely supplanted in the region by Russia and its Wagner militias. “I have no doubt that thanks to this cooperation, the remaining pockets of terrorism in Burkina Faso will be destroyed,” predicted Sergei Lavrov.
Chad, the last coveted power
To conclude his tour, Sergei Lavrov arrived this Wednesday afternoon in Chad. France’s last ally in the Sahel, where the army still has a contingent of just over a thousand soldiers, Russia is also making eyes at General Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, at the head of a military junta since 2021 and re-elected president a few weeks ago.
“Russia has a military presence in four of the six countries bordering Chad and has every interest in tilting this state to build an anti-Western alliance,” Cameron Hudson, researcher at the Center for Strategic, noted to L’Express a few weeks ago. and International Studies. “At the heart of this war for influence, Déby wants to play both sides to best ensure his future. He first relied on the blessing of France to gain power, but wants to diversify his support and sees although the break with Westerners is a popular argument among young urban dwellers.