American Defense Minister Lloyd Austin said that Russian soldiers entered the air base in Niger, in West Africa, where American troops are also stationed, after the request of the new authorities of Niger that American forces withdraw from the country, reports the Agence France-Presse today.
The Russian deployment to the air base in the capital, Niamey, puts Russian and American troops close together at a time when Washington and Moscow are bitterly at odds over the war in Ukraine.
Military officers ruling the West African nation have ordered the US to withdraw nearly 1.000 troops from Niger, which until last year's coup was a key partner in Washington's fight against Islamist extremists who have killed thousands and displaced millions.
Asked about it at a press conference yesterday in Hawaii, Lloyd Austin said that the deployment of Russian forces does not represent a "significant problem" when it comes to protecting American forces.
Austin said Air Force Base 101, where US forces are based, is a Niger Air Force base near the capital's international airport and that the Russians are in a separate building and do not have access to US forces and their equipment.
When asked about this at a press conference in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov neither confirmed nor denied the Russian presence at the base, but only said that Moscow is developing relations with African countries in all areas, including the military.
Niger's military authorities, which came after a coup on July 26, 2023, condemned in March the agreement on military cooperation in force with the US, saying that the US had unilaterally imposed it and said that the US presence in the country was now considered "illegal". .
In mid-April, Washington agreed to withdraw its more than 1.000 troops from Niger. Talks are still ongoing between the US and Niger on the terms of the withdrawal, the head of the US military command for Africa said last Sunday.
The US has an important drone base near Agadez, Niger, which was built at a cost of around $100 million.
After the coup that overthrew the elected president Mohamed Bazum, the military authorities were also quick to demand the departure of soldiers from the former colonial power of France.
Niger has moved closer to Russia, as have neighboring Mali and Burkina Faso, where the military is also in power and which are facing extremist violence from groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.
In April, Russian instructors arrived in Niamey as the country's authorities received the first shipment of Russian military equipment.
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