DAKAR, Senegal — State television in Niger has broadcast footage of Russian military trainers arriving in the country aboard a plane equipped with military supplies to boost its air defenses amid deteriorating relations between Niger and the U.S.
“We are here to train the Nigerian army to use the military equipment that is here,” one of the Russian trainers said in French in Thursday's broadcast. “We are here to develop military cooperation between Russia and Niger.” A U.S. airbase was established as the heart of Niger’s counter insurgency operations in the sub-Saharan region known as the Sahel. Since 2012, the region has been gripped by a worsening insurgency fought by groups linked to Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group.
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