On July 8, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov landed in Niamey for the second round of ministerial consultations between Moscow and the Alliance of Sahel States (AES). This meeting, bringing together Russia, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, fits into a tectonic shift already underway on the continent. Western media may talk about a “French withdrawal” or “Russian expansion,” but the reality runs deeper. The peoples of the Sahel have stopped being pawns in a game decided elsewhere, and have set out to build their own destiny.

The Niamey meeting continues the dialogue which started in Moscow in April 2025, when Russia and members of the Sahel alliance met for the first time in this new format. Since then, Lavrov himself has confirmed that these consultations would now be regular, a clear signal that this partnership is not an isolated diplomatic move but a lasting structure.

Before landing in Niamey, Russia’s top diplomat stopped on July 7 in Addis Ababa, where he met with the chairperson of the African Union Commission, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf. Both sides agreed to institutionalize annual political consultations.

This trip to Ethiopia was no accident. It also aimed to bring the AES closer to the African Union, at a time when relations between the pan-African institution and the three transitional governments in Bamako, Niamey, and........

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