In June, Russia announced it was sending additional military supplies and instructors to Burkina Faso to assist the West African nation in strengthening its defense capabilities.
On Tuesday, Russia's Defence Minister Andrei Belousov met with Burkina Faso's Prime Minister, Apollinaire Kyelem de Tambela, in Moscow to discuss the expansion of military cooperation, according to the Russian defense ministry.
Moscow has been pursuing a blend of military, diplomatic, and economic interests in Africa, competing with the West for influence, especially after Russia's war in Ukraine sparked the most significant confrontation between Moscow and Washington in decades.
Following President Vladimir Putin’s decisive victory in Russia’s March presidential election, several African newspapers viewed his re-election as bolstering the positions of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger.
Burkina Faso, which has been under military rule since a 2022 coup, has hosted Wagner mercenary forces. The group's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a plane crash in 2024.
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In June, Russia announced it would send more military supplies and instructors to Burkina Faso to help strengthen the country’s defense capabilities and combat terrorism.
According to United Nations data, Moscow has made relatively small investments in Africa so far.
Data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute in 2023 shows that Russia's arms exports to sub-Saharan Africa have declined in recent years. However, Russia remains the region's second-largest weapons supplier.
At the 2023 Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, Mr Putin said Moscow signed military-technical agreements with 40 African countries, which potentially opened the door for more Russian arms sales to the region.
Russia-Burkina relations are based on the principles of mutual respect, consideration of each other’s interests, and have acquired positive dynamics in recent years,” the Russian defence ministry cited Mr Belousov as saying in a post on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia’s Wagner recovers bodies of mercenaries in Mali
Russia’s Wagner mercenary group reported that its fighters had recovered the bodies of mercenaries killed in a July battle with Tuareg rebels and Islamist forces during a desert sandstorm in Mali.
Mali, which experienced military coups in 2020 and 2021, has been grappling with a prolonged Islamist insurgency.
In July, Wagner acknowledged suffering significant losses in the battle but has provided few additional details.
“An operation was successfully completed to return the bodies of our brothers, who in July 2024 heroically took up the fight with Islamists many times outnumbered,” Wagner said in a rare statement on Telegram late on Tuesday.
The loss of the battle in July illustrated the dangers faced by Russian mercenary forces working for military juntas, which are struggling to contain separatists and powerful offshoots of Islamic State and Al Qaeda across the arid Sahel region in Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger.
Wagner said its fighters had passed through a desert area near Tinzaouaten in north Mali that was “teeming with Azawad militants”.
“The bodies of our fallen brothers will return to the homeland,” Wagner said.
“We do not leave our own, and all of them – dead or alive – will be returned home,” it added.
