Violence in the region has increased since coup attempts in Niger and its neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso.
Russian military instructors have arrived in Niger with an air defense system and other equipment as part of the West African country’s deepening security ties with Moscow, state media reported.
Nigeria’s military government agreed in January to step up military cooperation with Russia after expelling French forces that were helping fight armed insurgencies in several Sahel states.
Broadcaster Tele Sahel showed a Russian transport plane arriving at Niamey airport as it reported late Thursday that “the latest military equipment and military instructors” from the Russian Defense Ministry had landed in the capital.
Russia will help “install an air defense system … to ensure complete control of our airspace,” the report said.
State radio Television du Niger said on its Facebook page that 100 Russian military instructors had arrived in Niamey.
There was no immediate comment from Russia, which sought to expand its influence in Africa and presented itself as a friendly country with no colonial background on the continent.
“Global Strategic Cooperation”
Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries, has been a frontline partner of the West in the fight against armed militants in the Sahel but has turned to Russia since the ousting of elected President Mohamed Bazoum in a coup last July.
In March, Niger decided to terminate its military agreement with the United States, which had allowed Pentagon employees to operate on its soil from two bases, including a drone base that the country built at a cost of more than $100 million.
The US still has about 1,000 troops in Niger, but their movement has been restricted since the coup.
The head of the military government, General Abdourahamane Tchiani, spoke by phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin in March to discuss “global strategic cooperation” against “current threats,” authorities said at the time, without elaborating.
Niger has joined neighbors Mali and Burkina Faso, also ruled by military leaders after coup attempts, to form a joint force to combat long-running armed insurgencies.
Violence in the region has increased since the coup attempts, and instability is exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the Sahara border region. As of March, more than three million people were displaced there, the International Organization for Migration said this week.