Dozens of Russian military trainers have arrived in Niger as part of a new deal with the country’s junta, which has cut ties with its Western allies.
State media reports that they arrived with a state-of-the-art air defense system.
They are expected to install the system and teach the Nigerian Army how to use it.
The West African country is one of three countries fighting an Islamist insurgency in the Sahel and has recently strengthened ties with Russia.
A spokesman for the Nigerian military government said on Friday that the Russians were in the country to train soldiers.
The Russian Defense Ministry’s paramilitary group Africa Corps, also known as the Russian Expeditionary Corps (REK), wrote on Telegram that this was the first group of soldiers and volunteers to go to Niger.
In an attached video, a soldier from the corps said in French that they were there to “develop military cooperation” between the countries and had brought “various special military equipment” to help with training.
Footage was shown on Nigerian state television of the Russian instructors unloading a cargo plane full of equipment.
Ulf Laessing, an expert on the Sahel at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, which promotes democracy, told the BBC World Service’s Newsday program that the military supplies appeared to be part of a “regime survival package.”
Niger’s democratically elected President Mohamed Bazoum was ousted last year by the junta, which has since severed military and diplomatic ties with former colonial power France and canceled an agreement with the United States.
The European Union suspended its security cooperation with the country after the coup.
Mr. Laessing said the military government was still concerned about some form of physical interference in Niger by the political and economic alliance of West African states known as Ecowas.
He added that this was probably the reason for the delivery of a Russian air defense system and not to help suppress Islamist militants.
“I don’t have any other explanations because jihadists don’t have planes,” said Laessing.
Niger faces increasing violence from the Islamic State group as well as the ongoing threat from Boko Haram militants along its border with Nigeria.
Earlier this week, at least six soldiers were killed in an explosion in the Tillabery region near the border with Mali.
Nigeria’s Defense Ministry, which confirmed the attack, said an army patrol vehicle hit a landmine near the southwestern village of Tingara earlier this week, killing some of the soldiers. Others were injured and taken to hospital.
The ministry said it carried out an airstrike to neutralize those responsible for planting the homemade landmine.
While the military government cited increasing insecurity in Niger as a reason for the coup, reports suggest insurgents have continued to carry out attacks – almost monthly – in parts of the country, particularly in the Tillabery region.