Russian Federation wants to position itself as a "guarantor" of security for African countries: ISW tells about the Kremlin's plan

The terrorist state Russia continues to position itself as the leading guarantor of security for authoritarian countries in Africa. There, it is going to sign so-called military agreements with six more such "partners."

The Kremlin is using such agreements to fill the power vacuum in African countries created by the withdrawal of Western missions from the region. This was pointed out by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

On November 12, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexandr Fomin said that Russia already has "military cooperation agreements" with 30 of the 54 African countries and is "very active" on the African continent.

At the same time, he boasted on RosTV that in the near future the country would sign them with six more African states. The Russian did not specify which ones, but ISW reminded that in recent months, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his deputy Yunus-Bek Yevkurov have met with delegations from Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, and Libya.

According to the French-language publication Jeune Afrique, a group of Russian military personnel arrived in Burkina Faso to "protect" interim President Ibrahim Traore from future coup attempts. According to Russian sources, this was precisely the result of Shoigu's November 7 meeting with Burkina Faso's ministers in West Africa.

"The Kremlin seems to be using military agreements with the Sahelian juntas to fill the power vacuum created by the withdrawal of Western players from the region, such as the UN's withdrawal from Mali," the analysts suggested.

As reported by OBOZ.UA, it is noteworthy that in July 2023, the leaders of 38 out of 54 African countries refused to attend the summit in St. Petersburg with the participation of Russian dictator Putin. At the time, the Kremlin assured them that they were "understanding" of this.

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