00:00 Arms deals are the most successful pillar of Russian trade with Africa.
00:04 Two years ago, Russia overtook China as the top supplier of weapons to sub-Saharan Africa.
00:11 It is estimated Algeria, Angola, Egypt and Sudan alone buy up to 94% of available Russian-made artillery.
00:20 A lot of African countries depend on Russia and China for their weapons and weapons systems.
00:24 And so that is an issue and they will not want to burn those bridges.
00:28 Providing arms and military support to countries in Africa provides Russia with both profits
00:32 and geopolitical influence.
00:35 Despite the fact that Russia is taking advantage of anti-European sentiment and regional instability
00:42 by building up its proxy army through the Russian private paramilitary Wagner Group.
00:47 Wagner in Africa is seen as a self-sustaining organization.
00:52 It has contracts for the extraction of mineral resources in the Central African Republic
00:58 and is earning money.
00:59 Wagner is entrenched in parts of West Africa too.
01:02 Moscow's top diplomat, Sergei Lavrov, has made it clear that Russia is in Africa to stay.
01:07 I think that Sergei Lavrov wants to show that Russia's post-Western foreign policy is really taking off.
01:13 And he views the Russian-African partnership as some kind of alliance
01:17 against the American and European efforts to preserve a unipolar order.
01:22 Many African countries are now seeking to modernize their own armed forces
01:26 to tackle domestic security challenges effectively, albeit with Russia's help.
01:30 [MUSIC PLAYING]
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