As the Kremlin deepens its African footprint to counter Western influences, a post about Tiktok claims that Russia has removed visa requirements for all African states. However, this is misleading. Only six African countries enjoying visa-free entry into Russia have not been released since 2023, when key Moscow diplomats hinted at it.
“When Russia announces without a visa for all African countries (sic), the West is in panic,” reads a text overlay in a video posted on March 13, 2025.
The video's narration has been shared over 11,000 times, claiming that “Africans move easily and do business with Russia,” adding, “They (Africans) find investment opportunities and even decide to live in Russia, unlike the West, where this is becoming very difficult.”
Voiceover refers to a “recent statement” from Moscow diplomat Oleg Ozerov, who is cited as saying “Russia has established visa-free arrangements with six African countries and is actively pursuing agreements similar to those of other countries on the continent.”
Ozerov has been identified as the ambassador to the Russian Foreign Ministry and the Director-General of the Russian-Africa Partnership Forum.
Screenshot showing misleading posts taken on March 21, 2025
One user wrote, “Nigerians, please don't ruin this for us,” while another said, “time to travel to Russia.”
The account has over 54,000 followers and published a similar bill on March 25, 2025.
Screenshot of another misleading post from the same Tiktok account, taken on March 25, 2025
Russia has expanded its influence in Africa in recent years, providing security support to poor countries in the region and burning anti-West sentiment (archived here).
However, as of March 2025, there are only contracts with only a few African countries where citizens can enter Russia without a visa.
Work in progress
Using keyword search, AFP fact checks were unable to find a recent statement from the Russian government that announced the entry point for visas for all African countries.
According to the Russian Consul Information Portal, only 54 out of 54 countries have visa-free entries (archived here).
The six countries are Namibia, South Africa, Mauritius, Cape Verde, Botswana and the Seychelles.
Namibians and South Africans can stay in Russia for three months without a visa, while the people of Mauritius and Cape Verde can only stay for two months, while the people of Botswana and the Seychelles can only stay for one month.
The comments attributed to Ozerov in the video are correct, but he made them in September 2023 when he told the Russian press Tass that Moscow was working on exemptions from visa requirements for all African countries (archived here).
“We have visa-free agreements with six countries and we certainly have ongoing work with other states,” Ozerof said.
He added that how quickly such a contract is concluded is a “question for negotiation.”
Since Ozerov's remarks in 2023, there is no update on progress from the Russian government.
Ozerof's role has also changed. He was the Director-General of the Russian-Africa Partnership Forum until September 2024 and is now the Russian Ambassador to Moldova (archived here).
Meanwhile, in December 2023, the Russian Foreign Ministry added 11 new countries to its list of states where citizens can obtain a single e-visa (archived here).
The three are African countries, Kenya, Eswatini and Zimbabwe.
E-visa allows citizens of these countries to stay in one entry for 16 days.
