Russia has recruited hundreds of young Africans to its Russian language and cultural programs across the continent over the past year as the spearhead of a wider push by the Kremlin to use education to deepen its ties with everyday citizens and governments.

The courses are being offered online as well as in person at cultural hubs — called Open Education Centers — which are being launched at sites in more than half of the countries on the continent, mostly in partnership with local universities.

In Kenya, East Africa’s largest economy, free Russian classes were first unveiled in March last year. Russia’s ambassador to Kenya, Dmitry Maksimychev, told Semafor Africa the free classes had driven a tenfold increase in the number of Russian language learners in Kenya between 2018 and 2023, with 900 people having enrolled in physical and online classes last year. One student who took part in the online classes told Semafor Africa that each class had around 30 students, with the course running for six months.

Hundreds of students in Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, and Nigeria have signed up for these courses while Open Education Centers were launched last year in Egypt, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Tunisia and DR Congo. And a memorandum of understanding was signed in September to establish a center in South Africa. Russian officials have said Moscow plans to locate its centers in 28 African countries.

The language courses have already been “a great success,” claimed the Russian ambassador.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to strengthen ties with African countries in trade, security and diplomacy in the face of efforts by Western countries to isolate it politically and economically over the war in Ukraine. In November, it began shipments of over 200,000 tonnes of free grain to six African countries and the presence of private military group Wagner in some African countries, including the Central African Republic (CAR) and Mali, have increased Russia’s presence on the continent.