Russia may conclude agreements on military-technical cooperation with six more African countries, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Alexander Fomin said.
"There are 54 states in Africa. Today, we have agreements with 30 states and six more are in line [...]. The total will be 36. This practically covers most of the African continent," Russia's Deputy Defense Minister Fomin said on the Russian TV channel on Sunday.
At the same time, Fomin noted that, "as a rule, agreements are concluded in the field of military cooperation, and this agreement does not live alone."
"[The agreement] has in parallel a number of other agreements at the state or interdepartmental levels," he said.
Among the countries, with which Russia is already developing partnership in the military field, are Burkina Faso and Mali. In late August, another Russia's Deputy Defense Minister, Yunus-Bek Evkourov met alternately with the Burkinabe President Ibrahim Traore and the Malian leader Assimi Goita. With each leader, Evkurov discussed reinforcing the defense and military cooperation, as well as the security situation in the Sahel region.
Mali and Burkina Faso and both face jihadist violence and are ruled by military governments who took power in 2021 and 2022 respectively.