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Africa

Africa: The Kremlin’s Efforts to Spread Deadly Disinformation in Africa

todayFebruary 13, 2024

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Today, the U.S. Department of State’s Global Engagement Center is exposing Russia’s intelligence services for providing material support and guidance to “African Initiative,” a new information agency focused on Africa-Russia relations that has spread disinformation regarding the United States and European countries.

The Kremlin’s disinformation campaign in Africa:

  • In addition to its own staff, African Initiative recruits African journalists, bloggers, and members of local publics to support and amplify the organization’s work of bolstering Russia’s image and denigrating that of other countries.
  • One of African Initiative’s first major campaigns is to target U.S. and Western health initiatives in Africa with dangerous health-related disinformation. The campaign seeks to undermine U.S.-funded public health projects across Africa beginning with disinformation regarding an outbreak of a mosquito-borne viral disease.
  • From there, conspiracies will be spread about Western pharmaceutical corporations, health-focused philanthropic efforts, and the spread of disease in West and East Africa.

The actors involved:

  • The Chief Editor of the African Initiative is Artem Sergeyevich Kureyev, who is also the General Director of Initsiativa-23, publicly registered to an office in Moscow.
  • Some members of the African Initiative were recruited from the disintegrating enterprises of the late Yevgeniy Prigozhin.
  • The organization already has local offices in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Bamako, Mali and is hosting events on the ground.

Laundering the Kremlin’s disinformation to appear organic: