THE West is attempting to destabilise Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin told the Tass news agency on Tuesday.

Mr Vershinin said: “We see significant potential in new regional formats aimed at the sovereign development of African countries.

“We attach great importance to strengthening co-operation with the Confederation of Sahel States (AES), which brings together our friendly partners Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger.”

But Mr Vershinin said: “Unfortunately, Western countries are waging a large-scale campaign to destabilise the AES states, which are at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Africa.”

Mr Vershinin said that it is a priority for Russia to work with the AES to help strengthen its counter terrorism capabilities and to promote the socio-economic development of its member states.

He said: “In addition to efforts on the bilateral track, a new Russia-AES format was launched this year.

“In April, we held the first meeting of foreign ministers, which became the confederation’s foreign policy debut. This was followed by talks among ministers of justice, defence and education. We intend to maintain this positive momentum in other areas as well.”

Mr Vershinin said that Moscow is paying increasing attention to building multifaceted co-operation with Africa’s subregional communities.