The Russian Orthodox Church considers Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda to be anchor countries for developing its mission in Africa. This was stated in an interview with Vedomosti by Metropolitan Konstantin of Cairo and North Africa, Konstantin Ostrovskiy.

Responding to a question about the countries where conditions are most favorable for work and missionary activity, the metropolitan noted, “First and foremost, we operate in Kenya. More than 100 priests, 10 deaneries.”

The interviewee explained that the ROC also classifies Tanzania and Uganda as “anchor” countries. In Malawi, which he plans to visit, 14 priests are serving.

According to the metropolitan, the African Exarchate currently has a total of 258 clergy in two dioceses, North and South African. In the North African Diocese there are two bishops, 32 priests, and two deacons. It has 63 parishes operating in 18 countries. In the South African Diocese there are 226 clergy, including 221 priests and five deacons. Its structure includes 308 parishes, 18 countries, and 25 deaneries.

It should be recalled that it recently became known that the African Exarchate of the Russian Orthodox Church is recruiting Kenyans for the war in Ukraine.

In early February, the government of Kenya publicly called on Russia to halt the recruitment campaign.

And in the piece “How Russia ‘reformats’ Africa and the Global South,” LF reports on how Russia is trying to expand its influence in Africa and the countries of the Global South. Among the methods are military coups, costly disinformation campaigns, and sabotage.

In December 2021, the ROC, helping to advance these goals, created the so called Patriarchal Exarchate of Africa, thereby grossly violating the canonical territory of the Alexandrian Patriarchate, whose church jurisdiction has extended over the African continent since ancient times.

In essence, the “Exarchate of Africa” is an unlawful colonial body of the Russian Orthodox Church and one of the instruments of the Russian Federation’s influence on the African continent. This “church annexation” is considered unacceptable from the point of view of church canons because, in secular terms, the ROC invaded the sovereign territory of one of the most ancient patriarchates, founded by the Apostle and Evangelist Mark, the Alexandrian Patriarchate.

Thus, the church offensive supports the political and economic goals of the Kremlin. As it turns out, the population of Africa is also a mobilization resource that the Russian Orthodox Church helps deliver to Russia for the war.