Last winter, the head of Ghana’s state news agency received a message: Russia’s ambassador to the West African country wanted the agency to discuss a partnership with TASS, its Russian counterpart. 

For many years, Albert Kofi Owusu said the world had thought negatively about Russia, a perception he attributes to the Western media and Hollywood films. But after the country hosted the FIFA World Cup last year, Owusu said its eyes were opened to how developed it was; how its people were like anyone in the West. So when the request came through from the ambassador, he didn’t think working with Russia would be all that bad.

The Russian offer also appealed for another reason: the collaboration with Russia's state news agency would come with no strings attached.

“With Western aid, there are all these conditions,” Owusu explained. “They say: If you want this money, you have to do this about LGBTQ, for example — even if it goes against your country’s values. China and Russia say, ‘Here’s the money,’ and that’s it.”