Top 10 African countries that have bought the least weapons from Russia

The increase of Russian weapons in Africa is typically a part of some bilateral military cooperation agreements, often serving as a prelude to the deployment of Wagner soldiers in an African country.

This is according to the Grey Report, which also mentions that “illicit arms sales to Africa from Russia, illegal mining, and resource smuggling could increase as forms of sanctions-busting.”

As per the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, roughly 45.2% of Africa’s imports of weapons and ammunition came from Russia between 2016 and 2020.

During this time, Algeria was the top importer of Russian weapons on the continent, spending around $7 billion, followed by Egypt, which spent about $4 billion.

Algeria has spent more on Russian weapons than any other country over this period at almost $7 billion,” the report states.

“In addition, 28 African countries have military cooperation agreements with Russia, 15 of which either abstained or did not vote on the UN resolution on Ukraine,” the report adds.

Russia’s commercial interests in Africa have grown in strategic importance as sanctions connected to Ukraine have affected Russia’s domestic economy and caused disruptions to commerce in Western economies.

Additionally, given the great majority of Africa’s international trade, including that with Russia, is carried out in dollars or euros, the extensive sanctions placed on Russian financial institutions, including their exclusion from international payment systems like SWIFT, are also seriously upsetting Russian trade relations with Africa.

While several African countries have a vested interest in Russian military cooperation, others are more geared toward economic relationships and have very little need for Russia’s military influence.

Below are the African countries with the lowest volume of arms imports from Russia dating from 2000 to 2021, as per the Grey Zone Report.

It is important to note that several African countries imported 0 volume of Russian arms in the period under review, and as such are not included in the list.