I'm still flabbergasted that so many African countries see Russia as an anticolonial power. And antiracist. Because I can assure you, Russia is neither.
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I mean, forget about its invasion of Ukraine to assert a neocolonial claim to it. Let's look at the Russian "Federation" itself. The Soviet Union was called a "prisonhouse of nations". Well, Russia is also a prisonhouse of nations. The ethnic minorities are the ones being sent to the meat grinder. And woe betide you if you're a non-ethnic Russian in Moscow. The police just LOVE you.
@LiberalLibrarian helps explain the high desertion rate.