Democracy Dies in Darkness

Inside the effort to market Russia and Putin to Africans

The African Initiative is part of an opaque network of groups that Western officials and analysts say the Kremlin uses to spread Russian influence in Africa.

10 min
Officials and students during a ceremony last month in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, where they received blackboards and other supplies from the pro-Russian group African Initiative. (Adrien Bitibaly for The Washington Post)
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OUAGADOUGOU, Burkina Faso — When Zoubiré Patrice Sia needed blackboards and notebooks for the school he had founded, he knew where to call. He had seen a pro-Russian group called African Initiative promoted on television, in newspapers and online.

The group’s president “didn’t even hesitate,” Sia said, and together they were hauling new blackboards and hundreds of notebooks into the school courtyard on a recent Monday. Each notebook was adorned with a photo of Burkina Faso’s president, Ibrahim Traoré, and Russian President Vladimir Putin, their hands clasped.