As the popularity of Burkina Faso interim president Ibrahim Traore spreads across the African continent, a picture of him meeting Russian leader Vladimir Putin in May (2025) made rounds causing speculation about the role of Russia in Burkinabe political affairs and by extension other parts of the continent.
British Broadcasting Corporation reported about Russia's involvement in the October 2022 coup in the West Africa troubled republic especially after celebrating youths waved Russian flags in the streets of the Capital, Ouagadougou. Yevgeny Prigozhin, an oligarch close to Putin and the founder of the Wagner Group - a shadowy mercenary organisation active in several African countries - congratulated the young junta leader, describing him as "a truly worthy and courageous son of his motherland" BBC reported.
Skeptics however, warn African countries against trusting Russia and swallowing its overtures hook line and sinker.
Ukrainian journalist Oleksii Bobrovnykov in his 2024 book Red Zone, which is described as a continuation of his documentary series about Kremlin's tactics of destabilization illustrates excesses of Russia's ensnare of new territory with a message that; as opposed to western powers whose colonial era left a semblance of political structures and a new way of life for their 'subjects' Russia has a history of leaving nothing or trouble after conquest or friendly associations.
