Thursday, January 26 saw Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov complete his four-day tour of African states, including South Africa, Eswatini (Swaziland until 2018), Angola, and Eritrea. This trip, as well as Lavrov's upcoming February visit to Tunisia and Mauritania, was not officially announced in advance, though reported by an African source – the Institute for Security Studies (ISS Africa).

Lavrov's tour began on January 23 with a working trip to the Republic of South Africa, where he met with his counterpart Naledi Pandor and the country's president Cyril Ramaphosa. The talks featured discussions about preparing for the second Russia–Africa summit and economic forum set for July 26-29 in St. Petersburg. The sides also touched upon cooperation within BRICS South Africa chairs this year.

After Pretoria, Mr. Lavrov visited the Kingdom of Eswatini, where he conveyed to King Mswati III an invitation from President Vladimir Putin to the St. Petersburg Russia–Africa summit. On Wednesday, Lavrov arrived in Angola, a country that can be called Russia's "strong point" on the continent. In Luanda, the distinguished Russian guest met with President João Lourenco and Foreign Minister Tete Antonio, who spoke to him in Russian, by the way.

Next, the Russian minister went to Eritrea. His first visit to this state was kept low key to the last (ISS Africa alone wrote about it), which gave it an element of mystery and poured fuel into the flame of speculation by experts and journalists about the trip’s true cause. In the capital city of Massawa, Sergey Lavrov held talks with Isaias Afwerki and Foreign Minister Osman Saleh. Notably, Eritrea supported Russia as regards its presence in Ukraine during the vote at the UN General Assembly last fall.

Sergey Lavrov's current visit showed that Moscow is trying to establish cooperation with African countries despite their different political structures or economic development. This fact catches the eye right away. The states the Russian Foreign Minister visited this time are really widely different. While South Africa has been having a democratic government since 1994, Eswatini has preserved a nearly absolute monarchy, and Eritrea is only governed by one single party. This is yet more proof that Russia is willing to cooperate with African countries regardless of their domestic realities. Be it noted, Moscow conducts dialogue on an equal footing, without dictate or pressure, which compares it favorably with the West.

This fact is really disturbing to the latter, primarily the United States and France. If we follow the Western media, Sergey Lavrov's current visit to Africa has caused a real panic there. Newspapers are spangled with headlines like "Lavrov’s African tour another front in struggle between west and Moscow" (Guardian) or "Lavrov returns to second front he opened last summer." Apparently, this implies his visit to Egypt, Ethiopia, Uganda and the Republic of Congo in July 2022. And France’s L'Opinion directly calls the just-completed tour a symbol of threats to the US and European hegemony on the continent.

Sergey Lavrov's current visit to Africa took place amid preparations for a joint naval exercise engaging Russia, South Africa and China, scheduled for February 17 to 27 off southern Africa’s coast. Russia will be represented by the Admiral Gorshkov frigate carrying hypersonic Zircon missiles, the American media emphasize. The very idea of such an exercise is disturbing to Washington, as it negatively perceives Moscow and Beijing’s growing influence in Africa.

As Naledi Pandor noted, the upcoming drills are aimed to develop relations between the three countries. "Questioning the right of South Africa to conduct naval exercises is unacceptable. South Africa is a sovereign state deciding for itself where to conduct them and with whom," the head of the republic's Foreign Ministry said. The independence reference has not been voiced by chance. Earlier, the US Congress introduced an anti-Russian Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act, which Ms. Pandor urged to scrap "because the legislation is at odds with international law." Thus, she virtually challenged Western interference in her country’s internal affairs.

The struggle for Africa is undoubtedly escalating, as confirmed by the Western response to Sergey Lavrov's visit to the continent. It has obviously demonstrated that Africa is becoming an important area of Russian policy, namely in promoting its interests throughout the Global South. Lavrov's tour has been broadly related to this, as attracting Africa to Moscow's side is deemed a vital thing. After all, African countries represent some 50 votes in the UN.

Of course, the US-led West is standing up against this. During his stay in Eswatini, the Russian minister said the West was trying to dictate behavior to all the countries he visits. "Wherever I go, our Western colleagues try to issue some warnings and make the host country to behave in a way that would be desirable to the Americans…  We very much appreciate and respect the position of all our partners, who in such situations are guided not by the orders of the former colonial powers and those who want to dominate the world now, but are guided by legitimate national interests," Lavrov stated.

Dwelling upon the West's opposition to Russia in Africa, we shall bear in mind that anti-American and anti-European sentiment has been very strong here since colonial times. Although local media often echo Western propaganda, most African countries are generally positive about Russia, and it still enjoys influence and authority here. Moscow should exploit this when working with countries of the continent.

Today, Moscow's goals in Africa are reduced to finding promising cooperation niches and creating stepping stones to expand economic and political interaction. These issues will undoubtedly top the agenda of the upcoming Russia–Africa summit in St. Petersburg. Amid increased pressure from the United States and the European Union, seeking to restrain its development by any means, Russia can and should use any opportunity available to successfully solve its own issues and consolidate its positions internationally.