By Samuel Ouma
The U.S. government has claimed that the Russian Intelligence Agency is trying to undermine its influence in Africa through spreading deadly disinformation.
In a statement, the U.S. Department of State’s Global Engagement Center further revealed that the disinformation campaign also targets European countries.
It is alleged Russia is using the “African Initiative,” a new information agency focused on Africa-Russia relations, to bolster its image while denigrating that of other countries.
“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,” read the statement in part.
According to the U.S., one of the African Initiative’s first major campaigns is to target U.S. and Western health initiatives in Africa with dangerous health-related disinformation.
This campaign aims to undermine US-funded public health projects in Africa, starting with misinformation about a mosquito-borne viral disease outbreak.
From there, conspiracy theories will emerge about Western pharmaceutical corporations, health-focused philanthropic efforts, and disease spread in West and East Africa.
The actors of the disinformation campaign are Artem Sergeyevich Kureyev, Chief Editor of the African Initiative, 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,” added the statement.
President Joe Biden’s administration stated that the organization already has local offices in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Bamako, Mali and is hosting events on the ground.
The department also claimed that the organization uses a variety of branded and unbranded social media accounts to spread its propaganda. Two of its primary accounts are “African Initiative” and “African Kalashnikov”.
It also uses its website, afrinz.ru, and VKontakte, the popular Telegram channel “Smile and Wave”, and others amplified by additional pro-Russian accounts.
The United States has warned about the dangers of foreign information manipulation, emphasizing its potential to exacerbate social divisions, distort national debates, and fundamentally undermine individuals’ ability to make well-informed decisions for themselves and their communities.
“Foreign information manipulation is a dangerous and destabilizing tactic, but it is especially damaging when targeting health information. This Kremlin disinformation campaign must come to an immediate end before it poses an even greater risk to health security in Africa,” announced the U.S.
