The United States and Russia, geopolitical rivals who are currently on opposite sides in the Ukraine war (Washington militarily supports the Ukrainians, whose territory was invaded by the Russians in February 2022), have troops currently occupying the same air base in Niger, Africa.
The unusual situation was reported this Thursday (2) to the Reuters agency by a senior official from the United States Department of Defense, who asked that his name not be disclosed.
According to the source, Russian military personnel established themselves at an air base where United States troops are located after the military junta that governs Niger warned the Americans in March to withdraw their almost a thousand troops from the African country.
The official told Reuters that Russian forces are not “mixing” with US troops as they are using a separate hangar at Air Base 101, next to Diori Hamani International Airport, in Niamey, Niger’s capital.
In July 2023, a coup d’état took place in Niger and since then a military junta hostile to the West and sympathetic to the Russians has governed the country.
French troops who had been in Niger for almost ten years on counter-terrorism operations permanently left the country in December, after months of hostilities that included the expulsion of the French ambassador in Niamey.
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