By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Russia is set to withdraw its paramilitaries from Burkina Faso amidst escalating security concerns in the West African country, the paramilitary group, Bear Brigade has announced.
The 100 fighters who will be leaving Burkina Faso to help in the Moscow war in Ukraine are part of the 300 soldiers from the Russian private military company who arrived in the West African nation in May to support the country’s military junta.
The fighters will return home to support Russia’s defence against Ukraine’s recent offensive in the Kursk region, Bear Brigade said on its Telegram channel.
The sudden departure of the about 100 members of this specialised unit comes only three months after their arrival.
They arrived in May, same month when gunshots were fired in the Burkinabè capital near the presidential palace, heightening speculation about growing opposition to the junta leader, Captain Ibrahim Traore who came to power through a coup in 2022.
Their exit is not unconnected with the recent Ukrainian offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.
“When the enemy arrives on our Russian territory, all Russian soldiers forget about internal problems and unite against a common enemy,” Bears Brigade commander Viktor Yermolaev told France’s Le Monde newspaper (in French).
Concerns have been raised that their pull-out could embolden Islamist insurgents in Burkina Faso, who recently killed up to 300 people in one of the biggest attacks in years.
Burkina Faso has since 2015 suffered regular jihadist attacks, with more than two million people displaced in what aid groups call the world’s “most neglected” crisis.
An al-Qaeda-linked armed group, Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) has claimed responsibility for the recent killings.
