Russia has a much better track record in Africa than China going way back to Tsar Nicholas II. It says a lot that even when Russia was at its most imperialist and reactionary, it still played a progressive role in Africa. Because if it wasn't for Tsarist Russia under Tsar Nicholas II, Ethiopia wouldn't have done so well in the First Italo-Ethiopian War, perhaps even be colonized by the Italians. At the height of European colonization of Africa, Ethiopia was the only African country that held onto its sovereignty (Liberia doesn't count since Liberia was a de facto US colony), and much of it was thanks to Tsarist Russia.

Russia's hands are almost completely clean when it comes to Africa. More Africans died from being tossed overboard in a single slave ship headed to the Americas than however many Africans Wagner or any other Russian-affiliated group has killed. As long as the current Russia leader isn't as bad as some inbred anti-Semitic chump who got owned by communists, Russia will most likely continue to play a progressive role in Africa.

I wouldn't say that's true. China doesn't try to enact regime change, they work with the establishment. That's why you don't see rebels flying the Chinese flag, but it doesn't mean China lacks influence. They just lack influence with rebel groups.