PATRIOT PARK /Moscow Region/, August 15. /TASS/. The West is unanimous in its reaction to the recent coup in Niger, demanding a return to democracy at almost any cost, in contrast to the lack of reaction to the Ukrainian coup in 2014, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.
He pointed to "the bloody coup in Kiev that was orchestrated by Washington and Brussels in February 2014." "How in unison the West is now reacting to the coup in Niger, demanding the restoration of democracy by almost any means. Then, in February 2014, the ouster of the legitimate president [occurred], I repeat, through a bloody coup," he said at the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security.
In late July, a group of military rebels in Niger announced the ouster of President Mohamed Bazoum. They then established the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Country, headed by General Abdourahmane Tchiani, to run the country. Leaders of the countries that are members of the Economic Community of West African States, which includes Niger, slapped harsh sanctions on the mutinous soldiers and demanded that they release Bazoum, or face the use of force. Ivorian President Alassane Ouattara said upon returning from the ECOWAS summit in Abuja on August 10 that the leaders of the group’s member countries had agreed to start a military operation in Niger as soon as possible. Rebel leaders have ordered the army to be put on alert in light of ECOWAS’s announced plans to start an intervention. At the same time, the Prime Minister of the rebel cabinet, Ali Lamine Zain, expressed readiness to begin negotiations with ECOWAS representatives.