Russia will hold its latest Russia-Africa summit in October, according to officials involved in preparations for the event, as Moscow seeks to expand political, military and economic influence across Africa amid continuing confrontation with western powers.

The date of the summit has not yet been confirmed, but Russian and African officials have begun outlining cooperation agreements expected to be signed during the gathering, including a series of deals between Russia and Mali focused on energy and economic development.

This will be the third highly successful Russo-Africa summit that the Kremlin has used to build close ties across the continent and deepen the Global South resistance to the Global North influence by playing on the theme of colonialism.

Many African countries have warm ties with the Kremlin as Russia is one of the few major powers that never attempted to have a colony in Africa. During the Cold War, the Soviet Union sided with the nationalist movements that were trying to expel their colonial overlords. To this day, many African leaders got their education in Moscow and speak fluent Russian.

As part of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s strategy to build up Russia’s influence in the Global South in preparation for a clash with the West, Russia has held Russo-African summits in October 2019 and July 2023, which was attended by almost all of the leaders of the 54 countries in Africa.

The 2019 summit in Sochi was co-hosted by Putin and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who was then chair of the African Union. Russia described it as the first event of its kind and signed dozens of agreements covering energy, mining, defence and infrastructure.

A second summit was planned for 2020 but was cancelled due to the COVID pandemic. The event resumed in 2023 in St Petersburg after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and amid western efforts to isolate Moscow diplomatically. Yet 49 of the 54 countries participated including 17 heads of state. As detailed in an IntelliNews feature, Russia has become an influential player in Africa over the last decade. China has also worked hard to build ties, with major investments into raw materials deposits in particular.

Russia remains a major source of food, weapons, energy and nuclear technology for many countries in Africa. The Kremlin has subsumed the Wagner PMC into the Ministry of Defence, but continues to provide mercenaries, training and security for several governments, especially in the unstable Sahel region in Central Africa. This year, Russia will co-host the event with the government of Mali, which last year ejected its former colonial boss France from the country and a US drone base there.

2026 Russo-African summit

Russian energy minister Sergey Tsivilev said Russia and Mali were preparing to finalise “major cooperation agreements” during the summit following a meeting of the Russian-Malian intergovernmental commission held on the sidelines of the Kazan Forum, an annual economic and diplomatic gathering hosted by Russia’s Republic of Tatarstan.

Tsivilev also invited Malian businesses to participate in Russian Energy Week later this year, an invitation Mali formally accepted, according to officials involved in the talks, Russian press reports.

Russia has increasingly positioned itself as an alternative partner to former colonial powers in francophone Africa, offering military assistance, energy cooperation, grain supplies and infrastructure support to the Sahel region. Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have all deepened ties with Moscow after military-led governments in those countries reduced security cooperation with France and other western allies in the last two years.

Trade between Russia and African countries remains modest compared with China or the EU, but Moscow has expanded exports of grain, fertilisers and fuel products to the continent since 2022. Russian officials have also sought to increase the use of local currencies and alternative payment systems in trade with African partners.