The Prospects of Russian Soft Power in Africa

Russia’s foreign policy towards the African Continent shows that Moscow is seriously working on expanding its relations with the African countries and exerting more influence on this continent. Vladimir Putin, in particular, is trying to make sure that Russia does not lag behind the existing widespread competition between major powers such as the United States of America, China, the European Union and even India with regards to being present in the African Continent, to reintroduce Russia as a superpower with an effective trans-regional and international performance and to rebuild ties with the continent. The first Russia-Africa Summit took place in the city of Sochi, Russia, on 23 and 24, October 2019, which was attended by heads of states from all over Africa as well as the leaders of key regional associations and organizations of a number of African countries and served as an opportunity for consolidating Russia’s footsteps in this continent. A number of deals to the tune of more than $ 12.5 billion were struck on the sidelines of the summit.
In the opinion of the Russian president, the African Continent has vast reserves of natural resources and manpower and is uniquely attractive, and Russia, with a long history of relationship with African countries, is considering the expansion of comprehensive political, economic and cultural relations with this continent. In this paper, efforts have been made to analyze, in a descriptive way, the Russian foreign policy and its new approach towards the African countries and their existing capacities and to examine the effects of this new approach on the expansion of cultural relations between the two sides.