From Ukraine to Burkina Faso: on the trail of an Italian propagandist working for the Kremlin

The professional journey of propagandist Vittorio Nicola Rangeloni reflects the strategies behind the Kremlin's international influence campaigns, especially in Ukraine and the Sahel. A native of Lecco, a town in northern Italy, the 32-year-old holds a degree in geometry, speaks perfect Russian thanks to his Russian mother, and is nostalgic for the Soviet Union. Rangeloni started his career as a propagandist in 2015 in occupied Ukraine, first in the territories of Donetsk and Luhansk, then in Mariupol after Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022.

In April 2024, Rangeloni moved to Ouagadougou, the capital of Burkina Faso, for three months as an alleged war correspondent for African Initiative, a Russian propaganda agency. The organisation, which has several branches in West Africa, was founded in Moscow in September 2023 and is financedby Viktor Lukovenko, a former agent for the propaganda group of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the late leader of the Wagner paramilitary group.

First steps in the occupied Donbas

Rangeloni started his career in Russian propaganda in 2015 in the occupied territories of eastern Ukraine, where he presented himself as a freelance reporter. He forged close links with the self-proclaimed authorities in Donetsk and Luhansk, and worked as a so-called war correspondent for local propaganda outlets such as LNR-Today. Photosof Rangeloni wearing a military uniform and posing with these self-proclaimed authorities suggest he may have been a mercenary for the Kremlin at the time, and he is currently the object of an investigation opened in 2019 by the Ukrainian judiciary for "participation in illegal armed groups."

Yet the investigation did not prevent Rangeloni from continuing to promote the pro-Russian narrative. He remained very active on social media, where he disseminated Russia's ideology about the large-scale invasion of Ukraine that began on 24 February 2022. Rangeloni referred to the invasion as"war of liberation,"and filmed the Russian army's advance into Avdiivka, a town in eastern Ukraine that has been occupied since 17 February 2024. He did not hide his ideological affiliation with Prigozhin - who led a propaganda networkin Russia whose method was deployedin the occupied territories of Ukraine - and travelled to St Petersburg to pay his respects at Prigozhin's grave in September 2023.

The Burkina Faso chapter

A few months later, in March 2024, Rangeloni was drawing attention on the streets of Ouagadougou with his conspicuous tattoos, his camera slung over his shoulder, and his ID emblazoned with the Russian flag draped around his neck. He was spotted covering an anti-American rally, a protest to support extending the junta's transition, and a screening of Touriste- a propaganda film co-produced by Russia and the Central African Republic - organised by the local Russian-Burkinabe chapter of African Initiative. Financed by a company owned by the Wagner group, the film, a hybrid between fiction and documentary, praises the Russian military stationed in the Central African Republic. On 9 May, Rangeloni presented the photographs he had taken while living in the Russian-occupied territories of eastern Ukraine at an exhibitionorganised by the African Initiative in Ouagadougou.

Although Rangeloni was little known to the Burkinabè media sector until now, he managed to secure an interview with Defence Minister Kassoum Coulibaly, who rarely speaks at press conferences, on 28 May. Meanwhile, most other local and foreign media are threatenedand repressed, and their journalists are expelled.

African Initiative: Moscow's key to the Sahel

Rangeloni's journey to the Sahel directly correlates with the development of the African Initiative. Alongside projects like Africa Corps, the African Initiative is a pillar of Russia's overall strategy for the African continent and has increased its activities in the region since the beginning of 2024.

According to RSF's sources, the local Burkina Faso branch organised a meeting at the end of May with several journalists from digital media to promote its activities. That same month, the African Initiative's Mali chapter invited members of the Gandhi Malienweb TV - one of the country's most popular media outlets - to learn about Russiaand the occupied territoriesof Ukraine over a two-week period. At least two working sessionswere also organised, including one with Artem Kureev, who is presented as editor-in-chief of African Initiative but may also be an agent for the Russian security service, the FSB, according to investigative media outlet The Insider. In June, a group of bloggers and journalists from eight African countries visitedthe African Initiative's headquarters in Moscow.