Russia Offers to Quantify Africa's Reparations Claims | Discuss Ghana

On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, Russia officially offered African nations scientific and legal expertise to calculate the total financial volume of reparations owed by Western countries for the legacies of slavery and colonialism.

The announcement was made by Irina Abramova, Director of the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, at a Moscow press conference titled "Responsibility of Western Metropolises for the Consequences of Colonisation".

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The Scientific & Legal Proposal

Russia’s offer aims to turn historical grievances into concrete, evidence-based legal claims using modern data science:

Multidisciplinary Team: Russia intends to unite mathematicians, programmers, historians, and economists with African researchers to substantiate the volume of reparations.

Identifying Beneficiaries: The research will focus on identifying the main historical beneficiaries of colonial wealth and accurately calculating damages using extensive archives and scientific modeling.

Geopolitical Support: Framing Russia as a "normative ally" against neocolonialism, Abramova emphasized that Moscow supports "African solutions for African problems" and views this collaboration as a way to strengthen a multipolar world.

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Context: The 2026 UN Resolution

Russia’s offer comes exactly one day after the UN General Assembly passed a historic resolution—tabled by Ghanaian President John Dramani Mahama—recognizing the transatlantic slave trade as the "gravest crime against humanity":

Metric	Details
The Vote	123 in favor, 3 against (US, Israel, Argentina), 52 abstentions.
Russia's Position	Russia voted "Yes" and has consistently supported the African Union's designation of 2026–2036 as the Decade of Reparations.
Reparation Estimates	Current projections for total reparations from European nations range from $18 trillion to $100 trillion.

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Mahama and the Russian Link

Abramova highlighted President Mahama's unique position as both the AU Champion for Reparations and a scholar, calling him a "great friend of the Russian Academy of Sciences". She noted that under his leadership, the reparations agenda is evolving from political discourse into a "very concrete practical agenda".

"We want to combine the efforts of Russian and African scientists... to jointly substantiate the volume of these reparations and then proceed with legal claims on various international platforms." — Irina Abramova, March 25, 2026.