[President Ibrahim Traoré met
the Russia delegation on Thursday]
[Burkina Faso’s
interim President
Ibrahim Traoré has held talks with
a Russian delegation on military
co-operation,
the Burkinabe presidency says.
It said the visit, led by Russian Deputy
Defence Minister Yunus-bek Yevkurov,
was a follow-up to talks between
Mr Traoré and President Vladimir Putin
at the Russia-Africa summit in
St Petersburg in July.
The talks focused on aspects of military support
including “the training of Burkinabe officer
cadets and officers at all levels,
including pilots in Russia”,
the statement, issued on Thursday, said.
There were also discussions on areas of economic
co-operation and nuclear energy, it said.
The visit comes as Russia seeks to step up
efforts to court political and
economic influence in Africa.
The Russian mercenary group Wagner, whose leader
Yevgeny Prigozhin died in a plane crash last week,
had wanted to expand its operations to Burkina Faso.]
Ref: BBC Africa