As part of its soft power strategy, Russia focuses heavily on attracting foreign students to its educational system. The main goal is for foreign students to also study communist disciplines and shape future geopolitical alignments. Many graduates of Russian universities have gone on to lead countries or hold senior government positions in national and international organisations. It is worth noting that throughout the twentieth century, Western countries sought to gain influence in Africa by educating their future elites. However, Moscow used foreign student education to expand its geopolitical influence.
In the 1920s and 1930s, Moscow’s “Communist Universities” drew in many people, including communists and supporters of national liberation movements from various countries worldwide. Financed and supervised by the Communist International, the goal of these institutions was to provide students with both a theoretical and practical understanding of the revolutionary struggle. Despite playing a major role in 20th-century events, these universities kept their operations highly secretive until the fall of the Soviet Union revealed details about their activities.
After African decolonisation in the early 1960s and during the Cold War, many students from Africa, regardless of their beliefs, went to the USSR for education. The Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, founded in 1960 to assist recently liberated developing nations, emerged as a significant choice. This school had around 56,000 students from Sub-Saharan Africa, many of whom graduated with degrees in engineering and medicine. It was discovered that the school also served as a training ground for terrorists and as a location for Communist indoctrination. The Soviet Union’s educational efforts went beyond academics, and sought to teach and nurture a fresh group of pro-Soviet African leaders.
Current context
Russia has been accused of coercing foreign students into building drones for use in Ukraine, joining the “Russian army”, and recruiting African mercenaries to fight in the war. Russian students are to be taught how to manufacture and fly the lethal drones currently targeting Ukraine and the Russian government has announced a new programme that will further militarise schools and universities to prepare new generations for war. The Ministry of Education will buy more than 17,000 drones in 2024, and foreign students will also be subjected to this training.
Some Kenyans are converging on the Russian city of Alabuga Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in Tatarstan, seeking employment and education. Under contract with Russian enterprises to make thousands of warheads for Shahed 136 Kamikaze drones, also known as Geran 2, the Alabuga SEZ is providing the “Russian army” with significantly more drones than initially planned, and it has been announced that students from Kenya will commence Russian language lessons and embark on training as political scientists, engineers, and software developers.
Russia’s relations with Africa are primarily motivated by its interest in African resources such as agricultural products, chemicals, fertilisers, construction materials, and security markets. With Kenyan students studying courses in nuclear energy and technologies, applied geology, mining, oil and gas engineering, agriculture, fishing and forest industry, computer and information technology, political science and jurisprudence law in Russia, this will create a generation of Kenyan leaders who are aligned with Russian geopolitical perspectives.
Exchange programmes also contribute to Russia’s broader strategy of expanding its cultural and ideological influence in Kenya. Education is a universal tool for strengthening horizontal ties between professional fields in various countries. Today, Russia cannot provide Africa with an appealing ideology (as socialism did for the USSR). As a result, foreigners in the Russian Federation prefer to take courses in the medical and technical fields, while studies in the humanities that provide media skills are the least in demand. Thus, the challenge lies in the Kremlin’s attempt to use education to achieve geopolitical goals through hybrid actions such as offering scholarships and technical training to foreign students, promoting Russian language, culture and building economic partnerships through educational exchanges.
Challenges and consequences for Kenyan students
As Russia increasingly asserts its strategic interests in Africa, Kenya needs to carefully assess the consequences of educational partnerships. For instance, among the more than one million people who fled the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 are thousands of foreign students, among them medical student Linda Omwenga from Kenya. Her treacherous journey from Kyiv to safety in Warsaw together with nine other Kenyans took a long two and a half days. Linda was in the middle of a gap year, staying at a hostel in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv when the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine started during the night. It was not the sound of missiles hitting the capital that woke her up; it was her Nepali roommates running around the room shouting, “Everywhere Boom! Boom! Boom!” she says. “I remember thinking: ‘My God, I don’t have enough money to leave the country right now.’” Her mother tried to send her money from Nairobi via Western Union but could not because of mass money withdrawals and bank closures in Ukraine.
Today, higher education institutions in Ukraine are seeing a decrease in the number of Kenyan students enrolled; 76 were evacuated to safety during the war and by the beginning of 2024, the number of foreign students enrolled had decreased by 40 per cent. Many are unable to return to Ukraine to continue with their education because of financial or security constraints. Moreover, the majority of foreign students in Ukraine pursue medical specialities for which long-term distance learning is not an option.
Tens of thousands of foreign students became hostages when Russia invaded the country 24 February 2022. Many had to endure a difficult journey to the border with Poland – hiding in bomb shelters, going without Internet or communication with their families for extended periods of time, occasionally fleeing under the occupiers’ fire – and faced racial discrimination along the way. Emily, a 24-year-old medical student from Kenya, shared her experience of racism when she spent five hours at the border waiting to be allowed into Poland. Emily and her Kenyan friends were denied accommodation at a hotel while fleeing the war because of their skin colour and were only permitted to stay in the country for 15 days, even though the war would continue for several months. Russia has been capitalising on these instances of racism towards foreign students and using them as a propaganda tool against Ukraine. For example, in March 2022, Russia disseminated unverified reports of racism and intolerance towards foreign students in Ukraine. Russian propaganda also aimed to amplify individual cases of domestic conflict to undermine Ukraine’s reputation.
Numerous Kenyans have received education in Soviet and Russian universities since the mid-1960s, training as doctors, engineers, educators, government officials, and, more recently, as IT specialists and software developers. Over 125 students received scholarships in medicine and engineering courses in Russian universities 15 years ago; they had to take Russian language classes in their initial year of study. Boniface Muthoka, who is a beneficiary and also the chairman of the Russia and CIS alumni association in Kenya, has encouraged other Kenyans to study in Russia. However, Kenyan students trained in Russia face challenges in adapting to the medical, engineering, or educational systems in Kenya that may necessitate additional training or certification upon their return. Russian-trained medical graduates can also find it difficult to get a job when they return home due to issues with the recognition of their qualifications, differences in curriculum and local standards, and potential biases against foreign-trained professionals. About 4,000 trained doctors in Kenya are jobless despite public and private hospitals being understaffed and overwhelmed by the thousands of patients who turn up for treatment on a daily basis. Remaining in Russia might be viewed by some as a viable option to avoid such challenges back in Kenya but this only exacerbates the ongoing brain drain and deprives the country of highly educated and highly skilled professionals.
Geopolitical implications
Dr Hassan Omar Kinyua serves as the director of the Kenya Institute of Foreign Languages, specialising in Russian and Russian Language Teaching. His involvement in advancing Russian language instruction indicates a strengthening of cultural and linguistic connections, which frequently pave the way for larger geopolitical partnerships. With the official launch of the Russian Centre for Open Education in September 2023, approximately 300 Kenyan citizens have accepted an invitation from the Embassy of the Russian Federation in Kenya to study the Russian language.
While Russia offers educational scholarships and cultural programmes, the country is not the first choice for Kenyan students seeking education abroad. Most Kenyan students prefer institutions in Western countries like the United States and the United Kingdom. However, the growing involvement of Russia through scholarships and cultural initiatives could create a dependency that potentially influences Kenya’s foreign policy decisions. This dynamic is significant enough to warrant attention, as even smaller numbers of students can contribute to strategic geopolitical influences. Increased reliance on Russian scholarships, educational programmes, and cultural initiatives creates a dependency that limits Kenya’s autonomy in foreign policy decisions.
Mikhail Lyapin, a Russian businessman who helps negotiate deals between Kenya and Russia, represents the blending of economic interests and educational diplomacy. His role in negotiating deals to send many Kenyans to work in Russia highlights the diverse nature of Russia’s approach, using educational programmes as channels for economic collaboration and strategic partnerships.
Foreign students in Russia holding student visas are legally permitted to work, and they are also provided with a monthly stipend managed by the relevant ministries, such as the Ministry of Education and Science, or other government agencies responsible for international cooperation and student affairs. The cost of living in Russia is high, however, and Kenyans students could experience financial strain despite receiving a stipend and having the opportunity to work legally.
Russia ranks sixth in the world in terms of foreign student enrolment, attracting six per cent of the world’s “mobile students” to its universities. In 2023, Russia granted scholarships to 60 Kenyan students and provided them with information on the history of the two countries’ relations, education plans, life in Russia, and the formal procedures to be followed before and after their arrival at university. Moscow increases the number of foreign students eligible for free education in Russia each year.
The influence of Russia on Kenyan international students through scholarships and educational programmes prompts important questions about whether there are underlying political and ideological motives behind these initiatives. The provision of financial support and educational opportunities may serve not only to attract and educate Kenyan students but also to foster favourable attitudes towards Russia and align their perspectives with Russian interests. This raises concerns about how these programmes might subtly influence the students’ views and, consequently, Kenya’s foreign policy and international relationships.
The situation of Kenyan students learning in Russia underscores the complex relationship between the political, economic, and educational interactions of the two countries. Recent events, such as Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine, underscore the dangers that international students face in conflict zones and emphasise the importance of carefully considering and managing involvement in foreign academic institutions. As Kenya seeks to use educational collaborations to reap economic and diplomatic benefits, it needs to proceed with caution, considering the wider strategic consequences such as potential influences on its foreign policy, increased geopolitical dependency, shifts in cultural and ideological perspectives, economic realignments, and changes in diplomatic relationships, all of which require careful consideration to safeguard national interests. Russia’s efforts in education could offer opportunities for academic progress, but they also come with geopolitical factors such as influencing students’ perspectives, strengthening strategic partnerships, projecting soft power and propaganda, creating dependency, and potentially altering regional stability and alignments that require careful examination.
