Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine goes to Russia at the head of a large delegation. Niger has been in financial difficulty since the coup and under international embargo. He intends to diversify his partners to better develop his country.
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This is the first time since his appointment that the Nigerien Prime Minister has made a trip to Moscow. At the head of a large delegation, Lamine Zeine is accompanied by the Ministers of Defense, the Minister of Energy and Mines and Trade.
This first trip will, it is said in Niamey, allow it to diversify its partners, particularly in the fields of defence, energy and agri-food. In an interview he gave to the Sputnik agency last December, Lamine Zeine declared that Niger and Russia intended to intensify their cooperation in the military field, that of pilot training and intelligence. .
On several occasions, meetings took place in Bamako between the number two of the Nigerien junta, General Modi, and Russian diplomats including the ambassador to Mali, Igor Gromyko.
Last December, in Niamey, the two countries signed secret documents, diplomatic sources said. The question of the probable arrival of Wagner’s elements in Niger would have been discussed, a question which divides even within the ruling junta, the Minister of Defense, Salifou Modi, being one of the defenders of this option.
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