// BBC WORLD NEWS — MONDO
Is Russia proving better at protecting friends than fighting enemies in West Africa?
The embrace of Russia by Niger, and other Sahel states, has been seen as a rejection of the post-colonial Western powers
When mutinous soldiers seized a strategic military base in Niger's capital last Saturday, the country's ruling junta turned to a foreign partner it has increasingly relied on since coming to power: Russia.
Following a night of intense fighting in Niamey, Russia's Africa Corps helped Nigerien loyalist forces to regain control of Air Base 101 at Diori Hamani International Airport.
Africa Corps, unlike its predecessor the Wagner Group, is directly under the control of the defence ministry in Moscow. It provides combat support and military training and is thought to have some 200 to 300 men in Niger.
Russia's ambassador to Niger, Viktor Voropaev, publicly acknowledged the weekend intervention, saying his country's forces had helped "repress a mutiny".
"This is seen as a symbolic victory," according to Beverly Ochieng, senior analyst at Control Risks. "[One] that will continue to put them at the centre of not just the counter-insurgency campaign, but even in the protection and prolongation of military rule."
The attempted coup offers perhaps the clearest evidence yet that Africa Corps' role in three Sahel countries extends beyond its stated mission of helping governments fight jihadist insurgencies.
Russia is increasingly demonstrating that it can provide something perhaps even more valuable to the military rulers of Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso: protection for the governments themselves.
After the mutiny was put down, state television broadcast images of the arrest of some of the soliders
"It was not sufficient to bring stability," said Ochieng, "but it's enough to allow these military governments to have a political lifeline."