In early January 2024, a group of pro-French officers attempted to assassinate the head of Burkina Faso’s transitional military council, Captain Ibrahim Traoré, according to a source close to Burkinabe army command. The countries’ security services managed to foil the assassination plot and arrest the officers involved.
The security agencies reportedly received a tip-off from Russia’s foreign intelligence service, which informed Burkina Faso’s military council of the plan and the names of those involved, hours before it was set to take place. The operation was to target President Traoré’s motorcade in the capital Ouagadougou with an explosive device, then spray his car with machine-gun fire.
Why is Russia working with Ouagadougou?
Over 2023, Burkinabe authorities announced that they had thwarted several coup attempts concocted by French-affiliated officers against the country’s transitional military council.
The two most important such attempts came in quick succession, in August and September, after which at least 10 officers of various ranks were arrested for seeking to track the transitional president’s movements, assassinate him and announce a coup against the incumbent transitional council.
Russia’s cooperation with Burkina Faso, with the aim of bolstering its relations with Captain Traoré, are part of a drive to consolidate its presence across the Sahel countries and West Africa in general, where several states have experienced coups by factions hostile to France in recent years.
Russia took advantage of the attempt on Traoré’s life to conclude a security agreement with Burkina Faso, under which it would deploy 300 special forces at a Russian military base at the airport of the capital Ouagadougou, with a two-pronged mission of forming a presidential guard force to escort and protect Traoré, and supervising the training of parts of the Burkinabe army.
The first batch of 100 Russian troops took up their posts on January 24 at the base in the airport, which Russia had finished building in late 2023.
[Infographic of the Russian military base in Ouagadougou]
Through this agreement, along with similar steps in other West African countries, Russia is seeking to bring to fruition its vision of a Russian-African Corps, as a springboard for further military cooperation with the countries of the Sahel and West Africa.
Russia’s strategic goals
Russia’s move to thwart the assassination attempt on Traoré reflects its growing relations with the incumbent authorities in Burkina Faso. It also shows Russia’s desire to expand its security and military influence in Africa more generally, by establishing relationships with leaders and regimes that oppose French influence, providing them with security services and supporting their military campaigns against jihadist groups in the region.
The agreement will also help the Kremlin to rein in the Wagner paramilitary group’s activities the African continent by closely monitoring it and legitimizing its presence as part of the Russian-African Corps, which in turn may also expand its activities to other African countries.
There are also reports that Russia tried to reach an agreement with Mauritania in 2022 to establish a military base in Hodh El Chargi state to bolster its influence in that part of the Sahel, but President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani showed no interest in moving forward with the project. This prompted Russia to support neighboring Mali in its ongoing attacks on the Mauritanian-Malian border since August 2023.
It is possible that the agreement to establish a Russian military base in the Burkinabe capital is also aimed at balancing against a similar agreement the country has reached with Türkiye, allowing Burkina Faso to benefit from the security services provided by both parties and avoid limiting its options to one side. This strategy could also see it reach a similar cooperation agreement with China.
