Russia Offers African Leaders No Strings Attached Business & Protection From Western Pressure

Riyaz Patel

African leaders have descended on the Black Sea resort city of Sochi in Russia for a first of its kind summit, where Moscow will be offering business partnerships and security pacts alternative to “colonial-style” relations with the West, TASS reports.

Africa has become the new a battleground for geostrategic influence involving China, Japan, the US, and the EU, which compete for military access, economic superiority, and soft power supremacy.

India, South Korea, and the Gulf monarchies have interests in Africa too.

And so too does Russia. Moscow says its advantage is its old ties in the region, and further touts itself as an “ideology-free pragmatic partner” that wouldn’t leverage its offers to extort geopolitical allegiances.

“We have something to offer our African friends. This, in particular, will be discussed at the upcoming summit.”

Moscow said it will encourage African countries to table their own development proposals for