"A good initiative," a Beninese analyst Suleiman Amzat commented on the arrival of Russian military instructors in Niger.
The specialists arrived to train military personnel "so that they can withstand this asymmetric war, which is the war against terrorism," he noted.
"They came with the latest generation of equipment, equipment that allows you to defensively protect and cover the territory," he told Sputnik Africa.
Their presence is essential to train local forces to operate this equipment, he stressed. Unlike Western troops in Africa, "who were often on the opposite side of the fighting" in the Central African Republic, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger, "Russian troops have helped various states involved to regain their territory," he added.
"The trainers are welcome. The population is happy and takes this cooperation seriously," Amzat concluded.
According to the Kremlin, recently, military cooperation between the two countries was discussed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and the chairman of Niger’s National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, Abdourahmane Tiani, in a phone conversation.