Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov travelled to Niamey on the 8th of July for the second round of ministerial consultations between Russia and the Confederation of Sahel States, meeting with the foreign ministers of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger in a gathering that produced a joint communiqué, a memorandum on consultations between the two sides’ foreign ministries, and a renewed commitment from Moscow to deepen military and economic cooperation with the three junta-led governments.
Russia will continue to provide military backing for the junta-led governments of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, who make up the Alliance of Sahel States, the parties said at the meeting in Niamey. Moscow committed to “continue its support for strengthening the operational capacities of AES member states’ armed forces.”
The meeting follows the first Russia-AES ministerial consultation held in Moscow in April 2025 and a second session on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2025. Wednesday’s Niamey meeting was the third in the series, held on home soil for the first time. The three Sahel countries are ruled by military regimes that came to power through coups between 2020 and 2023, then turned their backs on former colonial power France and drew closer to Russia.
What the Joint Statement Said
The joint communiqué went beyond military commitments. Russia and the Alliance of Sahel States pointed to a collusion between Ukraine, France, and terrorist groups in the region, accusing external state actors of involvement in “coordinated barbaric aggression, as well as economic and media terrorism in the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) area, including a criminal conspiracy between Ukraine, France, some other countries and terrorist groups operating in the Sahel.” Neither Ukraine nor France has accepted those characterisations.
Lavrov’s opening remarks in Niamey framed the partnership in explicitly geopolitical terms, describing the Russia-AES relationship as part of a shared commitment to building a multipolar world order and resisting what both sides describe as Western interference in sovereign African affairs.
The Broader Strategic Picture
Russia and its Africa Corps paramilitaries are helping the AES countries fight jihadist groups that have killed tens of thousands of people across much of their territories. Moscow is also seeking closer ties with AES countries in the energy and mining sectors.
The Niamey visit was part of a wider Lavrov African tour, with Niger the second stop after Ethiopia. The next Russia-AES ministerial consultations are expected to be held in Russia. Putin has also extended personal invitations to the leaders of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger to attend the third Russia-Africa Summit, expected later this year.
The deepening relationship between Moscow and the Sahel confederation is one of the most significant geopolitical shifts on the African continent in recent years, reshaping security architecture, foreign policy alignments, and economic partnerships across a region that was, until 2020, firmly within France’s sphere of influence.
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