Titilope Ajeboriogbon
Africa-Press – Sierra-Leone. What began as Cold War nostalgia and soft power diplomacy has morphed into something far more troubling: a system that now funnels young African men into a distant European war under false pretenses.
As we follow Moscow’s changing ties to Africa, where trust has become increasingly ambiguous between exploitation and a legitimate relationship, one can never be reminded enough of the Russian proverb, ‘trust but verify.’ What began as Cold War nostalgia and soft power diplomacy has morphed into something far more troubling: a system that now funnels young African men into a distant European war under false pretenses.
History has a peculiar way of repeating itself, though rarely in exactly the same form. The Soviet Union presented itself as the liberator of Africa during the Cold War, supporting independence movements throughout the continent, particularly in Angola and Mozambique. More than 50,000 African students studied at Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow. The Soviet Union was assisting these countries in building infrastructure, providing military aid, and training their armies to combat colonial rule. Though this was primarily a “business” relationship, both parties operated under the same anti-imperial narrative. This was especially important because Africa had just begun to move away from centuries of colonial exploitation.
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Russia’s interest in Africa evaporated almost overnight. For two decades, the relationship languished. But around 2019, something shifted. With the collapse of communism, Russia resumed building up ties with Africa in a more systematic fashion. This new relationship has been characterized by a mercenary approach to security, with private military contractors providing security in exchange for mineral wealth, anti-Western propaganda campaigns, and arms deals with whoever is willing to either pay for weapons or give strategic advantages.
Then came the Wagner Group—a private military company that acted as Moscow’s disguised weapon in the Sahel. After Yevgeny Prigozhin’s abortive attempted coup against the Kremlin and his later demise in 2023, the Russian government reorganized Wagner’s operational structure and established the Africa Corps as an extension of these former (and now state-controlled) operations. The shift from the Wagner Group to Africa Corps is much more than a simple name change—it represents a fundamental transformation. It demonstrates Moscow’s readiness to take over the responsibility for conducting operations in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and the Central African Republic—four countries whose democratic governments have been replaced by military juntas and where Russian troops are important for ensuring their continued existence.
But here’s where the story takes a darker turn. While the Africa Corps operatives work to support unstable governments across the continent, Russian recruiters are quietly targeting another group of individuals—young men without jobs, seeking economic opportunities. According to Ukrainian authorities, over 1,400 people from 36 African countries are now fighting on behalf of Russia in Ukraine. A CNN investigation revealed how recruiters lure Africans with promises of high-paying civilian jobs, only to force them into military service upon arrival in Russia.
The accounts are harrowing. Kenyan photographer Charles Njoki sold his car to fund his trip to Russia, expecting to work as a drone operator to support his pregnant wife. Instead, he was sent to the front line with very little training. During the military simulation games on Discord gaming platforms, South African men were recruited and promised an education and citizenship, but they ended up in combat zones. Their passports were taken from them, their contracts were written in Russian with no translation, and they were trapped in a war machine that they never chose.
Hannah Arendt, in her writings, discusses the “banality of evil” and how such evil can occur through ordinary means and systems, such as bureaucracies and institutions. What’s happening here is a systemic process of economic deprivation producing sophisticated means of recruitment, resulting in the forced enlistment of young African men into military service. This stands in direct contrast to the Soviet-era student exchange programs, where young men and women from Africa would travel to Moscow to receive an education and then return home as doctors or engineers. Today, they travel under false assurances and either do not return or return in coffins.
There is an ironic characteristic of Russia’s engagement with Africa. On one side, some governments are provided with security by African Corps when they feel abandoned by Western partners, and on the other side, the same economic vulnerability that creates a need for security yet again is being exploited by Russian recruiters through recruitment practices.
The international community faces an important decision on this issue reminiscent of the Cold War debates. Should the international community solely condemn Russia, or should it attempt to change the conditions underlying the Russian ‘playbook’? History shows that simply expressing moral outrage has not led to change.
Two policy directions warrant thoughtful evaluation. Firstly, African governments need to establish an effective legal infrastructure that can penalize individuals or organizations that facilitate the recruitment of foreign military personnel. Investigations into such networks are already being conducted by the South African authorities. However, they need to go beyond penalizing individual violations and dismantle all the systems that allow these traffickers to operate. Coordinating with Interpol, instituting visa restrictions, and implementing harsh sanctions on recruiters are strategies to disrupt the flow of people through these channels.
Secondly, and more significantly, the African government, in collaboration with its Western partner, must invest in genuine economic development partnerships that offer alternatives to the risky choices young Africans are making. The African Growth and Opportunity Act and similar initiatives represent steps in the right direction, but they need to be expanded and sustained. If the choice is between unemployment at home and a promised salary in Russia, economics will override warnings every time.
Russia’s Africa playbook has evolved from Cold War idealism to post-Soviet pragmatism to outright exploitation. The challenge isn’t only about countering Russian influence—it’s also about creating conditions that make that influence less attractive. Until economic opportunity matches the scale of desperation, recruiters will continue to find people who are willing to join the fight, and young men will continue flying to Moscow without knowing they’re exchanging their freedom for a frontline trench in someone else’s war.
The question isn’t whether this system is sustainable. It’s how many lives will be lost before it collapses under its own moral weight.
source:moderndiplomacy
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