The Curious Presence of Russian Flags in African Protests

Did the waving of the Russian flag by some Nigerian protesters during the 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests mirror Moscow’s soft power in Africa?

For years, the existence and efficacy of the Russian Federation’s soft power have been a theme of discussions and analyses worldwide. In Africa, that Russia is admired is not in doubt. But has Moscow’s power of attraction always been strong and effective?

During the Cold War of the superpowers—the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics—the Soviet Union as an anti-colonial power partly gained influence over several African countries following the deployment of its soft power resources to the African continent: Marxist-Leninist ideology, state scholarships, and cultural centres. In late December 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and Russia as the successor state not only discontinued the propagation of Marxism-Leninism, it also closed some of its cultural centres, causing Moscow’s soft power to diminish in the region. However, since the 2000s, contemporary Russia with great power ambitions aims, among other things, to regain its influence in Africa. To accomplish this, Moscow is employing soft power assets such as state scholarships, cultural centres and the Russian language, the Russian Orthodox Church, media outlets (RT and Sputnik), and vaccine diplomacy, to mention a few.

Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Russia’s soft power in Africa has been put to the test. In South Africa, for example, the perception of Russia’s economic and political influence on the country dropped in 2022. Nevertheless, the reverence and affection for Russia, or ‘Russophilia’ as some scholars call it, is a phenomenon in Africa as observed in recent demonstrations in several African countries...