Media Wire Express Correspondent
Russia has reopened its embassy in Burkina Faso after it was shut more than 30 years ago, officials have said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin announced plans to reopen the embassy during the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg in July.
The embassy was closed in 1992 as Moscow reduced its involvement in Africa following the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The embassy was reopened at a ceremony in Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, Russia’s state-owned news agency Tass reported. The Russian ambassador to Ivory Coast, Alexei Saltykov, said Russian President Vladimir Putin would name the new envoy.
The Burkinabe foreign ministry confirmed in a statement that “Russia formally reopened its embassy this Thursday in Ouagadougou.”
Saltykov said he would head the mission in Burkina Faso until the new ambassador is named and described Burkina Faso as “an old partner with whom we have solid and friendly ties.”
Burkina Faso last year experienced two military coups — both triggered in part by discontent at failures to stem a raging jihadist insurgency.Since coming to power in September 2022, the ruling junta has distanced itself from France, its historic partner and former colonial power, and moved closer to Russia. In October, Burkina Faso signed a deal with Russia for the construction of a nuclear power plant to increase the energy supply to the Sahel country where less than a quarter of the population has access to electricity. Russia is yet to officially name the head of the mission.
Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1967, but Russia closed its embassy in 1992, and Burkina Faso followed suit in 1996 by closing its mission in Moscow.
The Russian embassy was then relocated from Ouagadougou to Abidjan in Ivory Coast, a neighboring country in the West African sub-region.
The Russian diplomatic mission was inaugurated at the ceremony, which was attended by Burkina Faso Prime Minister Apollinaire Joachim Kyelem de Tambela, Foreign Minister Karamoko Jean Marie Traore, other government officials, and Russian Ambassador to Ivory Coast Alexei Saltikov, who praised the friendly nature of the two countries’ inter-state relations.
“These relations are traditionally based on the principles of trust and mutual respect,” Saltikov was quoted as saying in a ministry statement.
The resumption of these ties “is a strong signal of the excellence of bilateral relations between the two States, and also reflects the solidity of the bonds of friendship that unite the Russian and Burkinabe peoples,” according to the statement.
It sees the resumption as a watershed moment in Russian-Burkinabe cooperation, completing a cycle of rapprochement between the two countries and ushering in a new era of cooperation for the benefit of their respective peoples, it added.
Russia will send 25,000 tons of wheat to Burkina Faso as emergency humanitarian aid, the Russian ambassador pledged, adding that Moscow will continue to assist this African country dealing with terrorism by providing security and military training.
Despite the closure 30 years ago, it “has never ceased in the political and economic fields,” Burkina Faso Prime Minister de Tambela told local media.
Cooperation between the two countries will provide more development opportunities and will serve as a catalyst for fruitful partnerships, Foreign Minister Traore said on the occasion.
