The Russian government deployed a contingent of their military personnel to Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou on Wednesday.
The deployment was connected to the West African country’s relations with Moscow after it booted out French troops in early 2023.
There have been speculations Burkina Faso would deepen security ties with Russia like neighbouring Mali, where Russian Wagner mercenaries operate.
According to Reuters, the contingent consists of about 100 servicemen who were flown to Burkina Faso to “ensure the safety of the country’s leader Ibrahim Traore and the Burkinabe people.”
A further 200 would be deployed in the near future, according to Reuters, adding that the Russian defence ministry did not reply to a request for comment.
Photographs posted to Telegram on Wednesday by African Initiative, a pro-Kremlin Russian news agency that covers African affairs, showed men in army fatigues unloading equipment from a plane with a Russian flag and a blurred number on its tail.
The aircraft pictured on the sunbaked tarmac was an Il-76, long the workhorse of the Russian military.
African Initiative said the photos showed the arrival in Ouagadougou of the 100 Russian servicemen, who it said would also train their Burkinabe counterparts and help patrol dangerous areas.
Reuters could not immediately verify the photos or the information.
The deployment will add to Western concerns about Russia’s widening influence in Africa’s Sahel region, where a series of coups has swept Moscow-friendly juntas to power in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso, reshaping a long-running regional conflict with insurgents linked to Islamic State and Al Qaeda.
Further cooperation could be on the horizon. The military leaders of Niger and neighbouring Chad paid separate official visits to Moscow in January.