The InteRussia programme is bringing African journalists closer to Russian realities at a moment when Moscow is intensifying its engagement with the continent through media, professional cooperation and public diplomacy, seeking to build new communication bridges with countries of the Global South.
Over four weeks, journalists from nine African countries — Mozambique, Zambia, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Senegal, Kenya, Somalia and Cameroon — visited political, academic, business and media institutions across Russia, gaining direct exposure to different sectors of Russian society. The programme took participants through newsrooms, universities, research centres, technology companies and meetings with government officials, aiming to offer a ground-level perspective on the country and to establish new channels of dialogue and professional cooperation.
The initiative forms part of a broader strategy of rapprochement between Russia and Global South countries, at a time when Moscow is seeking to strengthen its ties with Africa and expand its presence in the international media landscape. Beyond political, economic and cultural cooperation, journalism has emerged as a front for engagement, through direct contact with foreign reporters and the cultivation of professional networks between the two sides.
It is within this context that the InteRussia Journalism Fellowship was developed — a professional development programme held in Moscow and aimed at international journalists. Organised in cooperation with the Gorchakov Fund and the Rossiya Segodnya media group, the programme gave participants access to Russian media outlets, public and academic institutions, official and professional events, with the stated aim of bridging different media realities and stimulating dialogue between Russia and the Global South.
A bet on more direct communication
Africa as a new media space
For Vasily Pushkov, Director of International Cooperation at the Rossiya Segodnya Media Group, the initiative responds to a transformation in the international information system itself. In his view, over the past three decades, the global media market has been excessively concentrated among major Western actors.
‘During the last three decades, the global media market was a monopoly, controlled by the major players that emerged from the West,’ Pushkov said, adding that as relations between Russia and Western countries deteriorated, ‘the global media market, including the digital market, became quite closed’ to information about Russia.
According to Pushkov, Russia’s response involves seeking new spaces for cooperation, particularly with Global South countries.
Pushkov also advocates a shift in the way countries communicate with one another. Rather than relying exclusively on major international agencies to understand the realities of other nations, media outlets should seek sources directly from the countries they are reporting on.
‘Two countries, Russia and Mozambique, and their news agencies, must understand that when they write about Russia, the news should come from Russian sources,’ he explained. Equally, he added, when Russian media write about Mozambique, ‘they should at least look at Mozambican news agencies.’
Pushkov views this approach as part of a new phase in international relations within the media sector. The objective, he said, is to build ‘horizontal communication bridges between different media outlets in different countries,’ contributing to a more multipolar international media industry.
The initiative carries particular significance for Africa. Pushkov acknowledged a mutual knowledge deficit between Russia and the African continent, recalling instances in which Russian citizens asked what the ‘capital of Africa’ was — an example he used to illustrate, in his view, the extent of unfamiliarity with the continent.
Gorchakov: dialogue as a bridge-building tool
Liana Saikyants, Director of Programmes for the InteRussia Project at the Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund, regards communication as one of the primary instruments for bringing societies closer together.
‘The Gorchakov Public Diplomacy Fund was established to build these bridges of conversation and dialogue between countries,’ Saikyants explained, noting that the organisation has been working toward this goal for 15 years. ‘We believe communication is the key,’ she said.
Saikyants argues that programmes should create conditions for young professionals and specialists from different countries to meet and discuss matters of common interest.
According to Saikyants, the Fund identifies its main regional and thematic priorities annually and then develops projects aimed at bringing young specialists together. ‘We are trying to create as many possibilities as possible,’ she said.
Beyond projecting a particular image of Russia, Saikyants considers it important to give foreigners direct experience of the country. ‘We can say so many things to foreigners: that Russia is important, is safe and is waiting for dialogue. But they will never believe it until they come here and experience it first-hand,’ she said.
It is precisely in that direct experience that Saikyants sees part of the InteRussia programme’s relevance — meeting people, organisations, institutions, infrastructure and cultural aspects that are difficult to grasp through news produced at a distance.
The shift in Russia’s priorities is also reflected in the editorial presence strategy of the Rossiya Segodnya group. Pushkov explained that before relations with the West deteriorated, the group maintained a significant presence in certain Western regions, while in Africa it operated only one major editorial hub, located in Egypt.
With operations scaled back in Europe and North America, new resources have become available for other regions. ‘Now we have enough resources to open one in southern Africa, in Ethiopia, and we have plans for Tanzania,’ he revealed.
The expansion is not presented solely as a business strategy. It is also linked to Moscow’s need to strengthen direct contacts with African societies and to broaden knowledge of the continent within Russia itself.
For Pushkov, the challenges facing journalists are, to a large extent, shared by professionals across different regions. ‘We are all in the same boat,’ he said, pointing to difficulties related to funding, trust, disinformation, audience migration to digital platforms and the impact of artificial intelligence. In his view, addressing these challenges requires greater international cooperation among journalists.
The African view of the experience
The perspectives of the African journalists who participated in the programme add another dimension to the discussion. Josef Phiri, a journalist from Zambia, said the experience gave him access to institutions and professionals he would have been unlikely to reach through secondary sources.
‘All I know is that InteRussia offered me access to events, political figures, the media and other places,’ he said. For Phiri, that direct contact was valuable because it provided first-hand information about ‘the Russian media landscape.’
Phiri believes initiatives of this kind can also help correct existing perceptions about Russia, and that the participation of professionals from different African countries creates a knowledge network that can continue to generate effects after the programme ends.
Phiri acknowledged, however, that certain limits were set during some activities. He recalled events at which participants were informed that questions of a military nature would not be answered, and mentioned a military journalism class in which some military-related questions were avoided.
Even so, he considers that programmes like InteRussia can strengthen engagement between international media. ‘We were nine countries in Russia. Russia is the tenth country,’ he observed, referring to the diversity of experiences that participants were able to share during the programme.
Burundian journalist Denis Ntihindagizwa offers a more cautious assessment. His experience was shaped by access to major Russian media organisations, official events and public officials.
‘This level of access gave me a valuable insight into how Russian institutions operate,’ he said. At the same time, he was careful to distinguish the experience provided by the programme from the reality faced by foreign journalists working independently in the country.
For Ntihindagizwa, hearing different perspectives is fundamental to the practice of journalism, but should not mean surrendering editorial independence.
‘The programme exposed us to Russia’s perspective on international affairs through lectures, debates and meetings with specialists. As journalists, it is important to hear different points of view while maintaining editorial independence,’ he said.
Ntihindagizwa also noted that the African participants were received with interest and that there was a clear willingness to deepen professional cooperation. In his assessment, Russia appears to be attaching growing importance to media relations with Africa, Asia and Latin America.
Khadar Hassan, a journalist from Somalia, takes a more favourable view of the openness the programme provided. While acknowledging that significant restrictions on media exist in Russia, he argued that inviting foreign journalists and granting them access to Russian outlets creates new possibilities for cooperation.
‘The restrictions faced by media outlets in Russia are significant compared to other countries, but by inviting more journalists and providing access to their own media, they give themselves and other journalists more ways to cooperate,’ he said.
Hassan also noted that time spent in Moscow allows foreign journalists to gather information directly on the ground, rather than relying exclusively on accounts produced by third parties.
In his reading, there is also a perception that Russia is seeking to strengthen relations with the Global South. ‘Russia sees the Global South as a group of countries united to promote each other, including Russia itself,’ he said.
The varied assessments from participants illustrate that the media rapprochement between Russia and the Global South is not a linear process. For Moscow, programmes like InteRussia represent an opportunity to present its perspective directly and to build lasting relationships with foreign journalists. For participants, they offer a chance to engage with a reality that often reaches them through external sources.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/?p=539516
