Russian Orthodox Church's Africa Expansion Raises Diplomatic Concern
Moscow's religious network is growing rapidly across the continent amid warnings from Ukraine and Western analysts that it serves as a tool of political influence.
INFINITY254 MEDIA
Columnist · 5 September 2026, 2:00 PM EAT
In towns across Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and South Sudan, a new kind of Russian presence has emerged over the past three years — not diplomatic missions or military trainers, but Russian Orthodox priests building churches, running schools and ordaining local clergy in communities that had previously been predominantly Protestant or Catholic.
The expansion has been documented in a series of investigative reports by the Africa Center for Strategic Studies, which found that the Russian Orthodox Church's Africa operations have grown by more than 200 percent since 2022 — precisely the period when Russia's isolation from Western institutions deepened following the Ukraine invasion.
Ukraine's Ambassador to Kenya, Yurii Tokar, spoke bluntly about the concern at a Nairobi diplomatic briefing this week. "The Russian Orthodox Church is not a religious institution in the traditional sense. It has become an arm of the Russian state — a soft power tool designed to build networks of trust and influence that Moscow can call on when it needs them," he said.
Kenyan religious leaders contacted by Infinity254 Media gave mixed assessments. Several mainline Protestant denominations said they had noticed the expansion but did not see it as a security threat. "If people are coming to faith — genuine faith — that is not a problem. The question is what accompanies the faith," said Bishop David Oginde of the Christ is the Answer Ministries.
More alarming is evidence of recruitment. A 2024 investigation cited by Kenyan security analysts found that African students who travelled to Russia on church-affiliated programmes were in some cases recruited into the Russian Armed Forces. Kenyan authorities have confirmed that a small number of Kenyan nationals have been identified as having served with Russian forces in occupied Ukraine — a fact the government has condemned but has struggled to prevent given the multiple pathways through which young Kenyans can travel to Russia.