“The Man from Moscow”: Kenneth Koma and the USSR’s relations with Botswana in the 1960s – the first half of the 1970s

The 1960s were a time of dramatic political changes on the African continent: within a decade, more than two dozen independent states appeared on it. However, in Southern Africa, colonial (Angola, Mozambique) and racist regimes (South Africa, Rhodesia) maintained their positions, which made this region one of the hottest places of the Cold War confrontation. The Soviet Union was closely involved in the struggle for the liberation of African peoples. The purpose of the article is to analyze the USSR’s policy towards Botswana and its contacts with Botswana political parties, primarily with the opposition National Front. The research is based on archival documents from the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GA RF) as well as published documents and memoirs. As a result of the study, it was concluded that despite ideological differences (Botswana adhered to a pro-Western orientation), the USSR, based on pragmatic considerations and the need to use the territory of Botswana by friendly liberation movements in Southern Africa, pursued a pragmatic course of rapprochement with Gaborone. Attempts by the Marxist National Front and its leader Kenneth Koma to establish direct contacts with Moscow ended in vain. The position of the South African liberation movements played a role in the USSR’s orientation, which emphasizes the need to take into account the role of different participants and factors in the development of Soviet policy in Africa during the Cold War.