ASSESSMENTS

Russia Revisits an Old Cold War Battleground

Jan 15, 2018 | 09:00 GMT

Decades after competing for influence on the continent with the United States and its allies, Russia is taking a renewed interest in Africa.

(gabriel_bostan/iStock)

Highlights

  • The Wagner Group, a private military company with ties to the Kremlin, may secure military contracts in Sudan and the Central African Republic.
  • Military engagement with Russia will enable Sudan to maintain a greater balance in its foreign policy.
  • Entering the Central African Republic will allow the Kremlin to earn more cash and drum up more business across the continent.

Moscow looms large in sub-Saharan Africa's Cold War history. Across the continent, the Soviet Union competed with the United States and its Western allies for influence in a series of long-running proxy battles. Russia's interest in sub-Saharan Africa waned, however, after the Soviet Union's collapse in 1991. The region may have lost much of its geopolitical significance in the intervening time, but as the Kremlin asserts its influence in more and more conflicts abroad, sub-Saharan Africa presents Russia another opportunity to extend its global reach -- should it so desire....

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