Russia expands across Africa through force to compensate for global isolation

As Russia’s position deteriorates across Europe and the Middle East, Africa has become the primary arena where Moscow attempts to compensate for its shrinking geopolitical reach. The continent offers fewer institutional barriers, weaker security structures, and governments more willing to trade sovereignty for immediate survival. For the Kremlin, influence in Africa is not about partnership but about leverage, access, and denial of space to rivals at a relatively low cost. Yet this approach relies on coercion rather than integration, making Russian influence inherently brittle and transactional. Unlike China or Western actors, Russia lacks the economic depth to anchor long-term relationships through development or reconstruction. As a result, Moscow’s African strategy is increasingly defined by speed and opportunism rather than durability, creating influence that expands quickly but erodes just as fast.

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