Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 7311) to direct the Secretary of State to develop and submit to Congress a strategy and implementation plan outlining United States efforts to counter the malign influence and activities of the Russian Federation and its proxies in Africa, and for other purposes, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H.R. 7311, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 7311, the Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act, as amended, introduced by Representative Gregory Meeks, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

As Putin pursues a violent, illegal, and unjustifiable war in the sovereign nation of Ukraine, we must remember that he is also destabilizing fragile states in Africa to feed his ruthless war machine.

As a matter of fact, the Russian Federation has conducted malign activities throughout Africa for several years now to raise funds and evade sanctions that would inevitably result from Putin's brutal war.

From troll farms that spread disinformation to unaccountable private military contractors, the Kremlin continues to destabilize parts of Africa in order to achieve its objectives regardless of consequences.

Those consequences are deadly and draining African governments of sorely needed resources. For example, Putin has used his network of oligarchs to deploy the Wagner Group mercenaries to countries like Mali and the Central African Republic, where allegations of human rights abuses such as mass executions, forced disappearances, torture, and other unspeakable acts are mounting every day by those groups.

That is why I call on my colleagues to support H.R. 7311, which would require the Secretary of State to submit to Congress a strategy and plan outlining U.S. efforts to counter Russia's malign activities on the continent of Africa that undermine U.S. interests.

It would also require the State Department to identify and hold accountable Russian and African officials who facilitate Russia's malign activities, including those that exploit the continent's natural resources and manipulate democratic processes in order to evade sanctions.

I am pleased to see the administration is taking several steps toward this end in recent days, including through designating several Russian companies involved in illicit activities in Africa that were, in essence, designed to evade sanctions.

With H.R. 7311, I am confident the State Department, with the support of our other Federal agencies, will help Congress develop a clear picture of what Putin is, in fact, doing in Africa and how we can effectively push back to protect our interests and those of our partners throughout the African region.

Mr. Speaker, I support the bill and urge my colleagues to do the same. I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my friend again for his leadership and bipartisanship on this bill. I think it is a very important bill because Russia is spreading its malign influence all over the world, and it is having a particular impact in the African continent, so we need to be prepared. We need to respond. This bill will help do that.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this important piece of legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 7311 to require the State Department to develop a strategy to counter Russian malign influence in Africa.

As the world continues to watch Russia commit unspeakable atrocities and war crimes in Ukraine, the U.S. and our allies and partners must fully assess the threat posed by Russian activities around the world.

This bill requires the State Department to assess the threat of Russia's engagement in Africa and create a plan to counter the Russian Federation's growing influence on the continent. In particular, the bill requires a specific focus on extractive industries, security assistance, and strategic basing agreements.

In Sudan, Russia is pursuing an agreement to establish a military base on the Red Sea. Russian mercenaries are also active in the Central African Republic, Mali, and Libya. While they claim to support stabilization efforts, in reality, they are committing gross violations of human rights and exploiting natural resources.

Just last month, Russian mercenaries were implicated in a massacre of over 200 people in Mali. This was the worst attack in Mali in over 10 years. Further reports indicate that they attempted to blame the atrocities on French forces after French intelligence footage showed Russian mercenaries burying victims' bodies outside of a former French military base.

Putin's complicity in these atrocities and war crimes around the world, and disinformation campaigns to avoid accountability, cannot go unanswered. I strongly condemn these attacks and the destabilizing role of Russia across the continent and the world.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleagues, Chairman Meeks and Ranking Member McCaul, as well as Chairwoman Bass and Ranking Member Smith on the Subcommittee for Africa, Global Health, and Global Human Rights, for offering this important measure.

The assessment and strategy required by the bill is an important first step, but the U.S. must do more to counter Russian malign activity wherever it is present, and the atrocities and war crimes ongoing in Ukraine further underscore the urgency.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues again to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I wish to speak in support of Chairman Meeks' Countering Malign Russian Activities in Africa Act, of which I am an original cosponsor.

While so much of the world's attention is rightfully focused on Russia's atrocities in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin and his minions are also at work elsewhere around the world.

This is especially true in Africa, where we see the extensive presence of Russian Private Military Contractors, or PMCs, in particular the notorious Wagner Group, and extensive Russian entanglement in countries with mining and strategic mineral reserves.

In some cases, such as in the Central African Republic, we see mines guarded by Wagner Group mercenaries. Wagner Group PMCs are said to have also appeared recently in Sudan, where there had been earlier reports of Russia seeking a naval base.

We have also seen Wagner mercenaries implicated in atrocities in Mali, which seems to have taken a bizarre turn recently, with France accusing Russia of staging a false flag operation seeking to implicate the French.

Thus, the Chairman's bill is especially timely, and can serve as a template for other bills addressing Russian involvement around the world, including the Western Hemisphere, as came up during our markup.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.