Russian military occupies US base in Niger

Russian troops entered a US airbase in the Niger capital Niamey, a senior US Defense Department official told Reuters on Thursday. According to him, we are talking regarding a US Air Force base located next to the Amani Diori International Airport. American military personnel still remain on its territory.

Previously, the United States agreed to withdraw its entire military contingent, numbering more than 1,000 people, from Niger. US troops might leave the West African country “in the coming months,” according to The New York Times.

The coming to power of a military junta in Niger and rapprochement with the Russian Federation

In 2023, a military junta seized power in Niger. Before the coup, in which Moscow is suspected of involvement, Niger was one of the most important partners of Western states such as the United States, France and Germany in the fight once morest militant Islamists in West and Central Africa. For many years, the country has been terrorized by various groups associated with the Islamic State and al-Qaeda.

In January 2023, Niger, along with Mali and Burkina Faso, withdrew from the regional alliance ECOWAS – the Economic Community of West African States, the main goal of which was to ensure regional security in West Africa. After this, the Nigerian authorities officially announced that they were ending military cooperation with the United States and France, and also issued a decree according to which their military spending was no longer subject to oversight.

Experts are convinced that the severance of Niger’s relations with the United States and the abolition of controls on military spending were a precondition for an agreement on military cooperation with Russia.