Russia has reopened its embassy in Burkina Faso after a gap of nearly 32 years, the West African nation’s government and a Russian diplomat has confirmed.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the mission was closed in 1992. The Russian ambassador to Ivory Coast, Alexei Saltykov, revealed on Thursday that 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.’
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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.
In another report, a poet was sentenced to seven years in prison by a Moscow court on Thursday for reciting verses against the Ukraine campaign during an anti-mobilization protest last year.
Alongside Yegor Shtovba, 23, Artyom Kamardin, 33, who also participated in the protest, received a sentence of five years and six months.In a courtroom with tight security, the two were visible behind a glass partition.
Kamardin, wearing a smile, recited a poem just before his sentencing, describing poetry as “gut-wrenching” and disliked by those “accustomed to order.”