The struggle alongside pro-Russian separatists as part of Moscow’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine was not mentioned in Luhansk University leaflets when Jean Claude Sangwa, a 27-year-old student of the Democratic Republic of Luhansk. Congo, moved to the separatist region last year. year to study economics.
But when the Kremlin-controlled and self-proclaimed head of the Luhansk People’s Republic announced a full military mobilization in the region on February 19, Sangwa, along with two friends and classmates from the DRC and the Central African Republic, they decided to join the local militia. and take up arms against Ukraine.
“I am united because the war came to our republic. What should I have done? I am a man and I have to fight, “Sangwa said in broken Russian.” The whole world is fighting Russia, “he added when asked why he had decided to join the militia.
Sangwa moved to Russia two years ago to study in Rostov, a city near the Ukrainian border, and then moved to Luhansk, which had been captured by Russian-backed separatists in 2014.
There is a long tradition of Africans studying in Russia, beginning when the Soviet Union began offering scholarships to African students in newly independent socialist and communist states in the postcolonial period.
Between the late 1950s and 1990s, some 400,000 Africans studied in the Soviet Union. Although the numbers declined significantly after the fall of communism, Vladimir Putin recently said that more than 17,000 Africans are currently enrolled in Russian universities.
Shortly after joining the Luhansk militia, Sangwa was sent into combat and spent two months fighting. During this time, many of his African friends assumed he was dead and posted goodbye messages on his social media accounts.
Three days after the start of the war, on February 27, Sangwa’s photo was posted online by Find Your Own, a Telegram channel set up by the Ukrainian Ministry of the Interior to identify captured soldiers and murders. The publication said Sangwa had been killed by Ukrainian forces along with another African soldier.
“The Ukrainian enemy found my military ID card and said I was dead. I am alive, as you can see,” Sangwa said. He is currently patrolling the streets of Luhansk again as a member of the militia.
Pro-Russian forces are passing by a destroyed residential building in Popasna, Luhansk, in May. Photo: Alexander Ermochenko / Reuters
There is no evidence that apart from Sangwa and his two friends, more African soldiers have been sent to Ukraine. But while Sangwa’s story is unusual, his pro-Moscow feelings and views on who is responsible for the war are commonplace in large parts of Africa.
“Certainly, the West likes to think that sanctions have isolated Russia globally,” said Paul Stronski, a senior researcher and specialist in Russia at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “And they did it when it comes to the transatlantic community and the rich Asian nations. But in the eyes of the rest of the world, and particularly the African continent, Russia is not so isolated.”
For many years, Stronsky said, Moscow has been cultivating ties with African leaders, and in 2019 Putin hosted the first Russian-African summit, which was attended by leaders of 43 African nations.
“Many on the African continent now believe that the conflict is driven by NATO expansion, by reckless Western policies,” Stronski said.
According to Stronski, part of Africa’s support for Russia can be explained by anti-Western sentiments derived from the legacy of European colonialism. Russia has been accused of amplifying these grievances through disinformation campaigns on the continent.
“In Africa, the West has also been accused of double standards, worrying more about Ukraine and its refugees than about other tragedies unfolding in Africa and around the world,” Stronski added.
Some of Putin’s most enthusiastic supporters since the start of the war have been pan-Africanists, defenders of the doctrine of African unity and anti-imperialism.
Putin only “wants to get his country back,” Kémi Séba, a prominent Franco-Beninese pan-Africanist, said in early March. “He does not have the blood of slavery and colonization in his hands. He is not my messiah, but I prefer him to all Western presidents. “
Similarly, a leader of the Nigerian community in Moscow told the Guardian that most Nigerians there sympathized with Russia. “The issue is complicated, but the West has pushed Russia to do so,” he said.
A pro-Russia rally in Bangui, Central African Republic, in March. Photo: Carol Valade / AFP / Getty Images
Beyond morality issues, Russia has established itself in Africa by developing defensive alliances, supplying weapons to untied authoritarian leaders and presenting itself as an ally against armed insurgents.
Several African leaders, most notably South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, have openly said they believe Western efforts to expand NATO have contributed to the war.
While African nations are likely to be disproportionately affected by the impending global food crisis due to their heavy dependence on Russian and Ukrainian wheat, some African leaders have shifted the blame for food shortages and rising prices in the west, mimicking Russian narratives.
During a meeting with Putin in Sochi on Friday, Senegalese President Macky Sall, the current president of the African Union, blamed EU sanctions on Russian banks and products for making the problem worse, and distanced himself from criticizing the actions. of Russia, including its blockade of Ukrainian ports.
Despite its political influence in parts of Africa, Moscow has not yet indicated its intention to recruit troops from the continent or elsewhere to bolster its forces, although reports have emerged that Russia is facing a shortage of troops. ‘infantry.
Kremlin officials were quick to downplay reports that hundreds of local men in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, had gathered in front of the Russian embassy in April in hopes of fighting in Ukraine. .
However, pro-Kremlin voices have accepted Sangwa’s presence in Luhansk as a sign of growing military ties between Russia and Africa.
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On May 31, the WarGonzo Telegram channel, run by popular Russian propagandist Semen Pegov, released a video of Sangwa with full military equipment patrolling Luhansk.
“It’s not just our Wagner in the Congo,” Pegov said, referring to the famous Kremlin-linked private military group that has supported authoritarian leaders in Mali, the Central African Republic and Sangwa’s home country, the DRC. “Now our Congolese boys are in Luhansk too.”