Is Lavrov’s African tour turning Africa away from the West?

In the same way that the war against Iran is gradually diverting the Gulf away from Washington, Lavrov’s tour is, in turn, gradually diverting Africa away from the West.

A joint photo of the foreign ministers of Russia, Niger, Mali, and Burkina Faso. / Yuri Kogalov/RG

This article looks back at the final stages of the tour and demonstrates how it influenced major events that subsequently occurred on the continent.

Maputo, the card that Paris never knew how to play

In Maputo on July 9, Lavrov wasn’t there as a diplomatic tourist. He first met with his counterpart, the Mozambican Foreign Minister, Maria Manuela Lucas, and then with Mozambican President Daniel Chapo. The two countries formalized the modernization of their trade relations. Mozambique, rich in gas, graphite, and rare earth elements, is becoming a strategic anchor in the energy architecture that Moscow is weaving from the Gulf of Guinea to the Indian Ocean. Here, there’s no post-colonial sentimentality, no moralizing rhetoric, especially since Moscow isn’t looking for opportunistic allies. It’s building supply chains, patiently. A partnership of equals; and that’s precisely what the West, as a whole, has never been able to offer, neither to Africa, nor to Asia, nor to Latin America, and even less so to the Caribbean.

Bujumbura, loyalty that defies expectations

The final stage took place on July 10 in Bujumbura. President Évariste Ndayishimiye personally received the Russian foreign minister. Burundi, holding the rotating presidency of the African Union, was not a random choice. Lavrov had already visited the country in May 2023. In December 2025, in Cairo, the two diplomatic corps reaffirmed their commitment to deepening cooperation. A joint Russian-Burundian health monitoring center has been operational since the St. Petersburg summit. This is not opportunistic pandering. It is an alliance that thinks in terms of decades, while others think in........

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