African component: Russia strengthens its position in the Sahel

Russia intends to develop active cooperation in the field of economics and finance with three Sahel countries — Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso. At the same time, the main topic on the agenda of the 3+1 talks in Niamey predictably remained the issue of combating terrorism. As noted by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, today it is necessary to jointly identify and strictly block the channels through which the financial support of radical groups threatening the region is carried out. After all, any implementation of major joint projects in the field of energy or mining is now critically hampered precisely because of the destructive actions of the militants.

Lavrov's visit to Niamey

Sergey Lavrov flew from Ethiopia to Niger, a West African Muslim state in the heart of the Sahel. For the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, this is the first visit to the republic in history, and the foreign ministers of Mali and Burkina Faso have gathered here at the same time. On July 8, Niamey hosted joint consultations between the Confederation of Sahel States and Russia. The negotiations took place at the Mahatma Gandhi International Conference Center, a modern glass and marble complex. It was built by India as a gift, and today it looks like a futuristic oasis of safety among the poor streets of Niamey.

The arrival of such representative foreign delegations is a unique event for Niger, because for many years the republic has actually remained on the far side of world politics. However, as Sergey Lavrov emphasized during the meetings, recently the voice of the Sahel Union, which was finally formed in 2024 after breaking with the West, has been sounding more and more clearly on the international arena.

Russia is ready to help the States of the region in their struggle against the manifestations of neocolonialism. Sergey Lavrov spoke about the "second awakening of Africa," when, after gaining political independence, the countries of the continent should finally achieve economic independence. In this context, Moscow offers the Sahel an equal partnership aimed at protecting the sovereignty and internal resources of these States. The main practical result of the negotiations in Niamey was the signing by the heads of departments of a memorandum on regular consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Confederation of Sahel States and the Russian Federation. The parties have already developed a specific action plan for the next two years for this basic document. Among the main strategic initiatives is the expansion of the 3+1 format to the economic and financial sectors, including direct cooperation between the central banks of the four countries, as well as the systematic development of interparliamentary cooperation.

The Russian minister conveyed official invitations to the leaders of the three confederation states — Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso — to attend the third Russia—Africa summit, which will be held in Moscow in October 2026. The authorities of these countries have high hopes for cooperation with the Russian Federation, which could contribute to improving the standard of living of their population. And there are indeed plenty of problems in the region, and even the incomplete days spent in Niger clearly illustrate this.

First impressions of the capital

The landscape on the way to official events highlights the harshness of this region: an endless, sun-scorched desert stretches beyond the car windows, as the Sahara approaches the very city limits. At first glance, Niamey is stuck in the past — there are practically no modern high-rises and new buildings here. The view opens only to rows of low houses made of clay and concrete, whose color merges with the dusty horizon. But even in these conditions, the Sahel is capable of surprising: against the background of clay walls, a bright advertisement for children's football suddenly catches the eye. At the same time, Niger firmly holds the first place on the planet in terms of birth rate.

"But sometimes the attitude towards children here is completely different: many give birth with the idea that at the age of four or five the child will already be sent to beg on the street," one of the interlocutors shared with Izvestia. — There is often a different attitude to the death of children here, it is blunted by everyday tragedies. One of my colleagues' daughters died after being bitten by a mosquito, so he just called and asked for a couple of days off for the funeral.

After Ethiopia, the sharp contrast between the two points of the tour catches your eye from the very first minutes. And it's not just about religion or extreme weather conditions, when the thermometer shows almost +40 degrees. If in Ethiopia the main domestic threat to a foreigner was an invisible amoeba in a glass of water, then Niger welcomes guests with a whole bouquet of the most severe tropical infections of West Africa. The republic annually loses tens of thousands of lives due to diseases that are superimposed on chronic hunger and lack of clean water. Today, the country is officially recognized as one of the poorest on the planet, along with South Sudan and Somalia.

— The worst thing is malaria. The rainy season is coming soon, which will only worsen the situation," one of the accompanying Russian journalists shares his concerns.

For this reason, the members of our delegation were greeted on the spot not so much with the usual bottle of water as with an ultra-strong repellent: most of the usual remedies used in Russia are simply ineffective here.

Without an international yellow fever vaccination certificate, arrivals simply will not be allowed outside Niamey Airport. Although corruption, according to the interlocutor, is able to solve this problem as well: the issue price for sanitary control can be about $50. The vulnerability of the system is easily explained by the critically low income level. For example, many military personnel, according to Izvestia, earn on average less than $150 per month. And this is despite the fact that it is the security forces in this republic who bear the enormous responsibility for the survival of the state.

The threat of terrorism in the Sahel

Niger is literally trapped in a "ring of fire": in the west, Al-Qaeda militants (including its Sahelian branch JNIM) and ISIS are rampaging, and in the south, radicals from Boko Haram (all of these organizations are recognized as terrorist and banned in the Russian Federation). The Sahel region (Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger) has the highest terrorist threat level. today it firmly holds the first place on the planet.

Government buildings and the airport are surrounded by barbed wire and barricades. The last major attack on the Diori Amani International Airport took place recently, on June 18. This militant attack was the second large-scale assault on the capital's air harbor since the beginning of the year.

— Earlier, the terrorists attacked areas that are located 40-80 km from the capital, and sometimes villages were cut down there. Now they are attacking closer and closer to the main city of the country," an informed source told Izvestia. — Therefore, the tension increases.

In this situation, the issue of counterterrorism occupied a special place at the Niamey talks — Sergey Lavrov noted the importance of cooperation between the Quartet in identifying channels through which such groups are funded.

Local intelligence services and the Russian side are increasingly seeing a "French trace" in terrorist activity: the military authorities in Niamey directly accuse Paris of using intelligence channels to coordinate and covertly sponsor radicals. According to the republic's leadership, France, which has lost its bases, is using extremists as mercenaries to destabilize the Sahel and overthrow the new anti-Western administration.

In a joint statement, the parties noted the involvement of external players in coordinated aggression, as well as economic and media terrorism in the Confederation of Sahel States, including criminal collusion between Ukraine, France, some other countries and terrorist groups operating here.

Under these conditions, foreigners, and especially people of the Caucasian race, are strictly prohibited from traveling outside the protected perimeter of Niamey. On the distant outskirts of the city, the risks of being abducted for ransom or killed by radicals remain critical. The situation is aggravated by the fact that, according to some reports, the problem of the slave trade is still acute in the region.

Resources of the Sahel countries

It is the Russian Federation that today acts as a key ally of all three republics in the fight against extremists: specialists from the Russian African Corps operate in the countries of the confederation. After the expulsion of the French contingent, Moscow has intensified unprecedented cooperation in the field of security with the states of the region, although, for example, back in the 1990s and 2010s, bilateral contacts with Niger were sporadic, noted Alexander Shipilov, a researcher at the Institute of International Relations of the Russian Academy of Sciences. But the coming to power of Abdurakhman Ciani in 2023 after the coup changed the situation. By the way, Sergey Lavrov also held bilateral talks with him on June 8.

Russian specialists not only train local units and supply modern weapons, but also help build a unified defense contour within the Confederation of Sahel States.

Security issues remain key for the participants of this new geopolitical bloc, because the threat is of a cross-border nature. This was clearly confirmed by the events of the last two days: on July 4, the combined forces of Tuareg separatists FLA and terrorists from the JNIM group (a branch of Al-Qaeda, banned in the Russian Federation) conducted a simultaneous series of attacks on military bases and infrastructure facilities in Mali — from northern Aguelhok, Anefisa and Gao to central Sevare and Kenyeroba in the south. Where the radicals stormed a large prison complex

Malian forces, with the direct support of specialists from the Russian African Corps, eliminated about 30 attackers in Sevare and Gao, holding their positions. At the same time, the heaviest battles unfolded in Burkina Faso, which today officially tops the Global Terrorism Index.: There, the army used combat aircraft to repel a coordinated jihadist raid in the eastern provinces of Gayeri and Solhan, killing more than a hundred militants on the spot.

The very fact of such large-scale simultaneous attacks by radicals in Mali and Burkina Faso, superimposed on the June assault on the capital's airport in Niger, turned Sergey Lavrov's meeting with colleagues into an emergency clock check in the face of a common deadly threat. It becomes obvious that the Sahel Confederation is in a state of full-fledged regional war with extremists.

At the same time, Moscow is far from the only one dealing with security issues in the region. Along with Russian specialists, the Turkish PMCS Sadat has been actively involved here since 2024, Shipilov said. According to him, all key players clearly understand that the implementation of any large-scale economic projects is now critically difficult due to the constant threat from terrorist groups.

But the Sahel Confederation has enormous potential that it could offer to the world market: Niger holds the seventh place on the planet in terms of reserves of the purest uranium, Mali and Burkina Faso are among the top 5 largest gold producers on the continent, and the bowels of the region hide huge undiscovered deposits of lithium, phosphates and manganese ores. In these circumstances, local authorities have high hopes for cooperation with the Russian Federation, which could contribute to improving the standard of living in the country.

For Moscow, the support of the residents of these states and the building of long-term ties are of fundamental importance, and reciprocity on their part is clearly evident in the international arena. Within the walls of the UN General Assembly, the countries of the Sahel Confederation have long abandoned neutrality and openly support the Russian Federation.

However, how strong such an alliance will be will directly depend on the ability of the central authorities to withstand the permanent terrorist threat. And it's far from just that: if the military leadership in Niamey, Bamako and Ouagadougou fails to dramatically improve the standard of living of its own citizens, even if it relies on external players, then the stability of the Sahel will remain illusory. In conditions of total poverty, it will only be a matter of time before fertile ground for another coup d'etat is ripe in the region.