RUSSIA’S INFLUENCE IN AFRICA, A SECURITY PERSPECTIVE - On Tuesday, February 21, 2023, the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center and the Policy Center for the New South, in collaboration with the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, hosted a twin report launch event for Russia’s influence in Africa on the occasion of the first year of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. This research, co-authored by Sarah Daly and Abdelhak Bassou in English and French, contextualizes the Kremlin’s objectives in Africa since its invasion of Ukraine in the broader history of Russia’s operations on the continent, dating back to the Soviet Union. The event featured keynote remarks from Maj. Gen. Kenneth P. Ekman, Director of Strategy, Engagement, and Programs at US Africa Command, a conversation with authors, and a high-profile expert panel with Atlantic Council Senior fellows Dr. Michael Shurkin and Petr Tuma, Nataliya Bugayova, a Russia Fellow at the Institute for the Study of War, and Ovigwe Eguegu, a Policy Analyst at Development Reimagined. Chris Condon, a journalist at Bloomberg News, moderated the discussion, and he had just returned from the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s recent Africa tour. The event was closed with keynote remarks by Atlantic Council Board Franklin D. Kramer, former US Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs.

ORIGINAL AIRDATE: 02/21/23