Russia takes deliberate steps to deepen ties with Africa

By Kester Kenn
Klomegah, GNA’s Moscow Bureau Chief

MOSCOW (Russia), Aug
18, GNA – After two decades of extremely low engagement, Russia is now taking
deliberate steps to intensify some aspects of soft power in its policy as a way
of boosting diplomatic relations with Africa.

In a media briefing,
Mr Artyom Kozhin, the Deputy Director of the Information and Press Department
of the Russian Foreign Affairs Ministry (MFA), said “the Russian Federation is
successfully implementing programmes of cultural and humanitarian cooperation
with various African countries, which include contacts in education, science,
culture, art, the media and sport.”

These efforts were
aimed not only at consolidating cooperation with the African countries but also
helping to overcome some of the continent’s key problems – social inequality
and the involvement of the youth in sustainable economic development.

“Education is a major
priority in relations with Africa. Russian universities are open to African
students. Apart from the main subjects, they have programmes oriented towards
key areas of the region’s public and economic life,” he said.

He pointed to the
importance of specialised knowledge that was growing in conditions of globalisation
and the increasing use of information technology.

“Modern education
projects are being created and will be carried out in this context.”

He added that African
specialists educated in Russia would assist their countries use the advantages
of high technology, to enter a new stage of scientific and technological
progress.

“This area fully
conforms to the key goals and tasks of Russian foreign policy”, Kozhin
stressed.

In excess of 1,800
students from 50 African states were admitted to Russian universities in 2017.
A total of about 15,000 Africans study in Russia at present, including about
4,000 whose education is funded by Russia. Other Africans study on a contract
basis.

But Russian experts on
Africa have said many other aspects of the soft power are missing on the policy
agenda and should be pursued with African countries.

Professor Irina
Abramova, the Director of the Institute for African Studies under the Russian
Academy of Sciences, who spoke to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) saidt during the
Soviet-era, Africa was a high priority.

In the 1990s, after
the collapse of the USSR, Russia has largely reoriented to western states.
Currently, the Russian Federation does not have a comparable economic potential
of the USSR to promote its influence in Africa.

She noted that “with
existing resources, it is possible to succeed in business, if we focus on the
right directions and actively develop cultural ties with African countries, to
provide more scholarships to African students, to promote the Russian language
and to carry out humanitarian projects.”

She asked that the
media should actively inform Russians about the prospects for the development
on the African continent, its history and culture.

“Unfortunately, the
Russian man in the street does not know much about Africa. For Africans, so far
Russia is associated with the Soviet Union – the majority of Africans, still
have very warm feelings towards Russia. But in general, and the Russian
Federation in Africa, and Africa in the Russian Federation are very poorly
represented in the media,” Abramova said.

Similarly, Mr Fyodor
Lukyanov, Editor-in-Chief of the Russia in Global Affairs journal and a Senior
Member of the Council on Foreign and Defence Policy, said Russia’s soft power
had never been on the very strong side of its policy beyond post-Soviet era.

“To some extent,
intensification of non-political contacts may contribute to an increased
interest, but in Russia’s case, the main drivers of any cooperation are more
traditional, political interest of Russian state and economic interest of large
business companies.”

In his article titled
“Why Russia’s Soft Power is too soft” published in Russia in Global Affairs
journal, Lukyanov stated that “Moscow, which still believes in the decisive
role of weapons and other traditional elements of power, is losing the
information and image war.”

The Soviet Union had
promised help and it had lavished on countries that accepted its ideological
patronage.

But now, Russia with
its “profit first” mentality has become more pragmatic in relations and, as a
result, less attractive as a partner, he wrote.

In her email
discussions, Dr Alexandra Arkhangelskaya, a Researcher on African affairs and
BRICS, and a Lecturer at the Moscow High School of Economics, told the GNA that
“the most significant feature in Russia’s policy is that Russia has moved away
from its low-key strategy to a more vigorous reactivation of relations and
authorities have to seriously show readiness to compete with other foreign
players on the continent.”

That step of pushing
for economic cooperation had to be complimented with the soft power, and she
added “the Kremlin and MFA have to acknowledge the fact that the foreign policy
must necessarily incorporate aspects of soft power to reflect Russia’s new engagement
with Africa.”

GNA

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