Niger’s junta chief talks ‘security cooperation’ with Russia’s Putin amid Western fears

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the chief of Niger’s military junta, Abdourahmane Tiani, had an important phone call on Tuesday (26 March), the Kremlin has revealed, adding that both men discussed “security cooperation” and security concerns in the Sahel region.
The Russian leader and the chairman of Niger’s National Council also reportedly spoke about “strengthening security cooperation,” according to an official communique. The two countries had already agreed in January to strengthen military ties when a delegation led by Niger’s Prime Minister Ali Lamine Zeine visited Moscow. Putin and Tiani “talked of the need for strengthening security cooperation… to face current threats,” Nigerian government said in a statement. They also discussed “projects for multi-sector and global strategic cooperation,” it added without further explanation.
Niger, one of the world’s poorest countries, had been a frontline partner of the West in battling insurgents in the Sahel, but has embraced Russia as an alternative defense partner since the country’s democratically elected president was ousted in a military coup in mid-2023. General Tiani, who has led Niger since the July coup, thanked Putin for Russia’s “support” for the West African country and its struggle for national sovereignty. The Niger’s newfound relationship with Russia, however, seem to be coming at the cost of Niger’s ties with the West. The US still stations some 1,000 military personnel in Niger, but its continuing presence there is now jeopardized after the decision by Niger’s junta administration to terminate a military cooperation deal with Washington.