How Russia Is Weaponising Information: A Disinformation Network Spreading Anti-Ukrainian Propaganda in Ivory Coast
In Abidjan’s lively media ecosystem — a city of bustling newspapers, radio stations, and a growing digital audience — something troubling has taken root. Over the past three years, a coordinated network of social media accounts, websites, and local opinion makers has been systematically amplifying narratives that portray Ukraine and the West as aggressors, glorify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and position Moscow as a friend of Africa while depicting Kyiv’s government as a puppet of NATO. The campaign has been documented in a series of investigative reports and confirmed by the Ivorian government’s own cybersecurity officials — yet it continues to operate with apparent impunity.
The findings, published by France 24’s Investigations Unit in April 2026, are the culmination of months of digital forensic analysis, source interviews, and cross-referencing of online behaviour patterns. They paint a picture of an information warfare operation that is sophisticated, well-resourced, and specifically calibrated for an African audience.
A Network Anatomized
The disinformation infrastructure identified in Ivory Coast is multi-layered. At its base are dozens of social media accounts — many of them newly created, with few friends or followers, but operating in concert — that share identical content within minutes of each other. These accounts frequently use the same hashtags, the same stock photographs, and the same framings, suggesting a degree of central coordination that goes beyond organic sharing.
Above these accounts sit a network of local websites, many of which present themselves as independent news portals but which share common ownership structures, hosting arrangements, or financial backers that investigators were able to trace. These sites republish and amplify content originating from Russian state media outlets — RT, Sputnik, and others — and present it as original reporting.
At the top of the ecosystem are local influencers, journalists, and self-described analysts who participate in media tours, conferences, and social media campaigns that are funded through channels connected to the Russian operation.
The Content of the Campaign
The narratives pushed by the network are consistent and deliberate. Central to the operation is a framing that presents Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as a justified response to NATO expansion and Western aggression — a narrative that was widely rejected by the international community but which the network presents as uncontested truth. African audiences are specifically targeted with messages suggesting that Europe and America have abandoned Africa while Russia has come to stand with the continent.
"We are told to see Russia as an alternative," said one Ivorian journalist who requested anonymity, speaking to France 24. "They say: the West colonized us, exploited us, and now they lecture us about values. Russia offers a different path. It is a seductive message in a country where anti-French sentiment runs deep."
Why Ivory Coast?
For Russian information operations, Ivory Coast represents an ideal target. The country has a large, digitally connected urban population, a vibrant media culture, and a strategic position in francophone West Africa. It is also a country with a complex relationship with its former colonial power, France, which maintains significant economic and military interests in the country. Anti-French sentiment — already present in Ivorian society — is actively exploited by the Russian operation.
France’s declining influence in West Africa — accelerated by military coup governments in Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Gabon — has created a vacuum that Russian information operations have moved quickly to fill.
The Response — or Lack Thereof
The Ivorian government has acknowledged the existence of the network and, through its cybersecurity agency, has taken steps to identify and disrupt some of the accounts involved. However, observers note that the response has been limited in scope and effectiveness — hampered, they suggest, by a lack of technical capacity, unclear legal frameworks around disinformation, and a degree of political ambivalence about confronting the phenomenon.
The Bigger Picture
The Ivory Coast operation is not an isolated case. Similar networks have been documented across Africa — from Ghana to Kenya, from South Africa to the Democratic Republic of Congo. The sophistication and scale of these operations suggests a level of investment and strategic planning consistent with a state-level information warfare programme.
For democracies around the world, the challenge is clear: Russia’s information operations in Africa represent a systematic effort to undermine support for Ukraine, to rehabilitate Russia’s international image in regions where it has historically had limited influence, and to exploit anti-Western sentiment for geopolitical gain.
For now, in Ivory Coast, the network continues to post, to share, and to amplify. And in the noise of the information ecosystem, truth and falsehood have never been harder to distinguish.
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