Russia’s return to Africa in a historical and global context: Anti-imperialism, patronage, and opportunism
Journal: South African Journal of International Affairs
Year: 2022

This article contextualises Russia’s involvement in Africa through the lenses of the Soviet past, current rulership architecture in Russia, and its recent operations abroad. Russia deploys normative justifications like anti-colonialism to justify its involvement in Africa. Russian agents in Africa are drawn from vast political-oligarchic patronage networks, making these agents perfectly suited to operate in patronage-political contexts that are widely observed across Africa. The diffusion of Rus