Russia's influence operations in Africa led by figure linked to Tatjana Ždanoka

Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the resulting Western sanctions, Moscow has been expanding influence operations across Africa. While publicly presenting itself as the continent's "savior," Russia is increasingly relying on African gold as more than half of its own gold reserves have been depleted.

From Wagner to African Initiative

From 2013, such operations were run under the "Project Lakhta" campaign led by Wagner group chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, using troll farms and a network of fake media outlets. After Prigozhin's death in 2023, Wagner units in Africa were restructured into "Africa Corps," overseen by Russian military intelligence, while a state-controlled "news" agency called African Initiative was established in Moscow and is now considered Russia's main disinformation tool on the continent.

The Ždanoka connection

The agency is led by Artjoms Kurejevs, whom the EU sanctioned in December 2024 over disinformation campaigns in Europe. In 2014, after Russia's annexation of Crimea, former Latvian MEP Tatjana Ždanoka requested a Schengen visa for Kurejevs so he could attend a forum she organized at the European Parliament. An Estonian court identified Kurejevs in 2022 as an employee of a Russian security service. Ždanoka was also subject to a Latvian State Security Service search in July 2024 over ties connected to him.

Another leading figure at the agency is Maksims Reva, a non-citizen of Estonia who was involved in the 2007 riots in Tallinn and whose Estonian residence permit was revoked in 2022.

Gold exports funding the war

The agency maintains close ties to Russia's Foreign Ministry, the State Duma and academic institutions including MGIMO. Meanwhile, Africa Corps has expanded control over gold mines in Sudan, Mali and elsewhere, helping Russia evade Western sanctions. In just 2022-2023 alone, more than $2.5 billion worth of gold was smuggled out of these countries.