Russia continues to posture itself as prominent security guarantor in Africa – ISW

The relevant statement was made by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

In particular, during a television interview on November 12, Russia’s deputy defense minister Alexander Fomin noted that Russia had military cooperation agreements with 30 of the 54 African countries, and would soon sign agreements with six more countries. In his words,  Russia is “very active” on the African continent.

At the same time, Fomin did not specify which African countries Russia would sign agreements with, although Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu and deputy defense minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov had met with delegations from Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, and Libya in recent months.

On November 11, 2023, French-language outlet Jeune Afrique reported that a group of Russian servicemen arrived in Burkina Faso to protect President Ibrahim Traore from future coup attempts, which Russian sources credited as an outcome of Shoigu’s November 7 meeting with Burkinabe Minister of Defense and Veteran Affairs Brigadier General Kassoum Coulibaly.

“The Kremlin appears to be using military agreements with Sahelian juntas to insert itself into the power vacuums created by the withdrawal of Western actors from the region, such as the UN’s withdrawal from Mali,” the ISW concluded.