MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/. The West is attempting to destabilize the situation in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, the countries with which Russia’s cooperation is gaining momentum, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin said in an interview with TASS.

"We see significant potential in new regional formats aimed at the sovereign development of African countries. In this context, we attach particular importance to strengthening cooperation with the Confederation of Sahel States (AES), which brings together our friendly partners Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. Unfortunately, Western countries are waging a large-scale campaign to destabilize the situation in the AES states, which are at the forefront of the fight against terrorism in Africa," he said.

As Vershinin noted, Russia considers strengthening the confederation’s counterterrorism capabilities and promoting the socio-economic development of its member states to be priority objectives. "To this end, 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, defense, and education. We intend to maintain this positive momentum in other areas as well," the diplomat said.

Vershinin also pointed out that Moscow is paying increasing attention to building multifaceted cooperation with Africa’s subregional communities.