Publications /
Policy Brief

Back
Russian Interference in Africa: Disinformation and Mercenaries
Authors
Youssef Eddazi
June 30, 2020

Russia is trying to gain a foothold in Africa via subversion and disinformation tactics. Under the leadership of President Vladimir Putin, Russia increased its interference in Africa by sending mercenaries to show force as opposed to making direct security interventions. At the same time, Russia struck arms deals and plans to expand its military presence. Russia also used social and broadcast media to support national leaders and other actors involved in conflicts. Although Russia’s current involvement is limited to conflict areas and nations trying to transition from autocratic regimes and/ or under international sanctions, its involvement in Africa is a concern nonetheless. It is clear that Africa is one of the regions where Russia is attempting to consolidate its influence and hegemony despite confrontation with various players such as the United States, China, France, and Turkey. To compete, Moscow is applying the Gray Zone concept, including implementation of subversion and disinformation campaigns.

RELATED CONTENT

  • Authors
    November 24, 2023
    في 6 أكتوبر 1973 تلقت السلطات الإسرائيلية تحذيرات عن احتمال اندلاع حرب على حدودها مع الدول العربية. هذا التحذير أكد المعلومات التي تم استلامها قبل بضعة أيام، ولكن أصحاب القرار السياسي والاستخبارات في اسرائيل لم يأخذوا الأمر على محمل الجد. حيث تعرضت إسرائيل لهجوم مفاجئ وعرف جيشها حالة من الهلع. وكانت الكارثة. خمسون عاما بعد ذلك، تقريبًا في نفس اليوم، فوجئت إسرائيل بهجوم جديد. في صباح 7 أكتوبر 2023، عبر مئات الرجال مسلحين الحاجز بين إسرائيل وقطاع غزة، انتشروا في أكثر من 20 مكانًا، قت ...
  • Authors
    Sabine Cessou
    May 17, 2022
    Ce thème, abordé au Centre HEC de Géopolitique à Jouy-en-Josas, lors de la 12e édition des Dialogues stratégiques avec le Policy Center for the New South, une rencontre semestrielle, a permis de revenir dans le détail sur cette zone qui relie la Méditerranée à l’océan Indien, à la jointure de trois continents : l’Asie, l’Afrique et l’Europe. Cette route maritime qui s’étend sur plus de 2 200 km, pour une largeur qui varie de 300 km à moins de 30 km entre Djibouti et le Yémen, représ ...
  • May 13, 2022
    Depuis 2016, le Policy Center for the New South et le Centre HEC de Géopolitique organisent chaque année deux éditions des « Dialogues Stratégiques ». Cette plateforme d’analyse et d’échange réunit des experts, des chercheurs provenant de différents think-tanks et du monde académique, d...
  • Authors
    February 22, 2022
    “Once upon a time a classic first line in fairy tales, used by Charles Dickens, for example in his “A Christmas card” in 1843, or Charles Perrault, the French poet, writer of “Cinderella” and “Sleeping Beauty”, both published in 1697 in “histoires ou contes du temp passé” Once upon a time suggests a nostalgic touch, the good old, romantic days glamourized because negative memories are annihilated and deposed in the dustbin of the human mind. Once upon a time, Beirut, the capital ci ...
  • Authors
    January 12, 2022
    Feeble eyesight may hinder you from finding Puntland on a map, the unrecognized Federal member state in Somalia, Khaatumo State, Jubaland, or Somaliland, concerning the planet’s size just large enough to be covered by the shadow of a palm tree. Arab entities surrounded by sun and sand and the Gulf of Aden, Somaliland is surviving as a self-declared nation, located on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Ethiopia to the south and west, Somalia ...
  • Authors
    December 15, 2021
    How do you treat a brutal dictator who had lost power after 42 years, hiding in a drainpipe, after his convoy was attacked by fighter jets from the air? It was a bloody mess and not a pretty scene. The dictator had a few seconds to beg for his life, “what did I do to you», he gasped reported the London Guardian on October 22, 2011, and then his turbulent life came to an end, shot with a pistol. Triumphantly his assassin raised Gaddafi’s golden revolver -- a few minutes of global fam ...