Does Moscow seek to supplant France?

Russian flags in the streets of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. A war of influence is being played out in the country, between Russia and France. An anti-French atmosphere, reminiscent of that of Mali, during a military putsch in 2020. Two years later, the French army withdrew from the country, replaced by Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group. While France retains many strategic bases in West Africa, the region is in the sights of Moscow, which is forging military cooperation with certain African countries.

“Burkina Faso is a country targeted by Russia, which is trying to get it out of the bosom of France”, specifies the journalist of France 24, Wassim Nasr. To achieve this, Russia regularly carries out disinformation campaigns on social networks to discredit France, as last April, accusing it of having concealed murders committed before the departure of the French army in Mali. What Paris has denied via videos taken by a drone.