The depth of the ties between Burkina Faso’s military junta and Russian President Vladimir Putin was all obvious when Moscow decided to help the Burkinabe junta out a few days ago, sending 100 military staff to Ouagadougou, even as the war in Ukraine continues unabetedly.
According to a post on Telegram, these soldiers are supposed to help protect junta leader Ibrahim Traoré as well as the general public from terrorist attacks.
But as members of the newly established Russian Africa Corps landed in the capital city, it was clear that they would de facto be taking over from the Wagner Group after its collapse — Russia’s infamous private military contractor led by Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a mysterious plane crash last August.
Howevr, the new unit, in contrast to Wagner, will now be directly liable to the Russian ministry of defense.
Soon, another 200 soldiers will also be dispatched, the message on Telegram read.
A display of control amid spiraling chaos
Supporters of the junta in Ouagadougou praised the arrival of Russian soldiers.
“They are here to train our men for handling weapons which the Burkinabe state has ordered. It is natural that they have come to train them”, said Nestor Podassé, a leader of a movement close to the junta.
He was among the first to post pictures of the Russian soldiers upon their arrival.
Even for many people who have no ties to the junta or who might even be opposed to the military dictatorship, the arrival of the Russian soldiers may come as a relief:
Burkina Faso has been experiencing a downward spiral of jihadist violence for years, with some groups overtly displacing their ties to terrorist groups like the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) and al-Qaeda.
These groups also have regional allegiances also with jihadist insurgent groups in the neighboring countries of Mali and Niger, which are also governed by military juntas.
Kremlin subordinates rather than mercenary structures
By deploying Africa Corps soldiers to the Sahel zone, Russian strongman Putin again shows off his influence on the continent, especially in Western Africa.
According to the Russian historian Irina Filatova, the new military structure is supposed to be deployed to five African countries in the future: Burkina Faso, Libya, the Central African Republic (CAR), Mali and Niger.
In terms of security arrangements, Russia is their new partner of choice, Filatova told DW: “Putin is very interested in Africa, especially Western Africa. According to the Western narrative, Russia is isolated. But Putin can show that Africa supports him.”
In practical terms, Russia hopes to establish the Africa corps as an instrument of foreign affairs, Filatova, who is also a professor emeritus at South Africa’s KwaZulu Natal university, added.
Wagner: Once the long arm of the Kremlin in Africa
Those five countries are used to seeing a Russian presence in their midst: before the establishment of the Africa corps, Wagner mercenaries came to fight Islamist terror, while also serving as household guards to local leaders.
Their presence, however, also helped Russia grow its economic influence on the region.
The Kremlin used to downplay the extent to which the mercenaries served its political agenda, but with the launch of a dedicated military unit for Africa, there hardly are any questions left about Russia’s proactive interest in the region.
No time to waste in restructuring initiative
The Kremlin was quick to recalibrate its strategy in Africa: When Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin staged a revolt against the Russian military and ordered his mercenaries to march towards Moscow in June 2023, he had clearly overstepped a line with Putin.
Eight weeks later, he was presumed dead in a plane crash.
A few months after his death, the name of a new actor was mentioned for the first time in the French newspaper Le Monde:
In late November, the daily reported that in a Telegram channel close to the Russian ministry of defense, the name “Africa Corps” had been circulated.
Some of the soldiers involved in the corps are believed to be former Wagner mercenaries, says Filatova, while some others were being recruited in their countries of deployment.
Putin’s growing influence in Africa — and beyond
“The interventions of Russian services, be it in Niger, Mali or Burkina Faso, first and foremost serve the purpose of protecting the regimes and only to a lesser degree to fight against jihadists,” French military analyst General Dominique Trinquand told DW.
Filatova agrees with that assessment, saying that the main focus of the unit in Burkina Faso will be to protect junta leader Traoré.
Since the September 2022 coup, the ruling junta in Burkina Faso has distanced itself from its former kez ally France. As former colonial ruler, Paris kept close ties after the country gained independence.
Now that the junta has expelled French troops, it has intensified its ties with Russia. Recently, the three countries of Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali turned also their backs on ECOWAS — the regional economic alliance, which also enjoys support by the West.
But this not just a case of swapping partners for a marriage of convenience in the economic arena. The partnership between Russia and Western African nations could bring about other important political gains for Putin, which could echo much farther .
Filatova argues that in the UN general assembly, and potententially even in the security council, “the Sahel countries could vote for Russia and inspire other African countries to follow.”
In other words, Putin’s growing influence in the Sahel region might hardly be about the region itself, even though Russia also continues to have economic interests in the vast mineral resources of the region as well.
Plans for a Russian military base
When it comes to the complexity of Russia’s expansion of power in Africa, one country strikes a perfect example: The Central African Republic. In 2018, the CAR decided to build stronger ties with Russia, signing a defense agreement.
This paved the way for greater military influence of Wagner mercenaries in the country.
The next step in CAR is supposed to be the opening of an official Russian military base in the southern town of Berengo, equipped to meet the needs of 10,000 soldiers.
Berengo already has an airport and other installments necessary for running a military base.
According to Fidel Gouandjika, minister and advisor to CAR President Faustin-Archange Touadéra, the base will serve as a hub for activities in the whole region due to its strategic position:
“We have wished for Russia to increase its presence in CAR to be able to intervene in case there appear to be problems with terrorism or leaders who want to destabilize the regimes in Central Africa”, Gouandjika told DW, adding that his country was ready to start constructing the base.
Meanwhile, civil rights activist Paul Crescent Béninga describes the CAR plan as paradox: “We are under the impression that we have just switched rulers. We left France only to bow down to Russia.”
This article was originally published in German
Edited by: Sertan Sanderson
