Russia recruiting African soldiers for the Ukraine

 I did note in past posts about Russian mercenaries in the Sudan and North Africa.

But today's Strategypage has an essay about recruiting Africans to join their fight in the Ukraine. 

Some of these are of course Africans studying or living in Russia (before the cold war ended, a lot of Africans got scholarships to study in Eastern Europe or in Russia: Sometimes the training was good, e.g. doctors, but it also included a lot of political indoctrination back then, However, the help from the USSR was seen as good by some, in contrast to the exploitation by European countries. One wonders where the atrocities of the Wagner group in the Sudan (or the presence of Ukrainians in several conflicts there) etc and the economic exploitation of China comes into this: I should note that I am no longer in touch with what is going on in Africa.

However today's essay is about the missionary outreach of the Russian Orthodox church in Africa. 

Currently Africa has over 730 million Christians, the largest number of any region in the world. Russian Orthodox Church missionaries are actively seeking new converts from other Christian sects as well as Moslem Africans.

 the problem: The Russian Orthodox church is a quasi religious organization that is associated with the state and obeys their policies. Unlike the west,where 800 years ago the separation of church and state was pushed through, this is not true for Russia.

and now the Russian government is pushing converts to join Mother Russia to help them support the military (non combat roles) and of course with promise of good payment, some of these volunteers (and students studying in Russia) end up as soldiers.

this Reuters article from last year is about one African student who joined the Wagner group fighting in the Ukraine.

Wikipedia article notes the number of Orthodox in various countries around the world (something that the western Protestant oriented MSM is blind to).

but yes there is a Wikipedia page on the Russian Orthodoxy in Africa. and notes the changes in jurisdiction of the Orthodox in that continent in recent years.

Masaman has a short video about the Orthodox Christians in the world