MOSCOW, September 7. /TASS/. US intelligence services are in discussions with their partners about who they could use to do away with the new leadership of Niger, as the United States is very unhappy the reins of power in that country have changed hands, the press bureau of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) has said.

"According to information coming in to Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service, the United States is strongly dissatisfied with how things are playing out in Niger, where an interim administration headed by General Abdourahmane Tchiani came to power recently as a result of a military coup. <...> The White House is working on various options for ostensibly 'strengthening democracy' in Niger. It is considered unreasonable to do this through the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), which has close connections with Paris. The Americans see a more 'effective' option: the physical elimination of the 'coup leaders,' who are supported by the majority of the population," the SVR said. "US intelligence services have been in direct discussions with their partners about who could carry out these potential assassination attempts. Their focus is on people from the inner circle of the interim leaders, preferably those who have undergone special training at the Pentagon’s educational institutions."

The SVR also pointed out that there was nothing new about the US resorting to such "dirty methods."

"It is well known that since the 1960s the Americans have been conducting a systematic campaign to 'rid' Africa of strong national leaders. The CIA, in particular, had a hand in the assassination of Patrice Lumumba in the Congo, the overthrow of Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, and the arrest of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. US intelligence acted so brutally and defiantly that even President Lyndon Johnson once exclaimed that it was "a damned Murder, Inc.," the SVR press bureau recalled.

"Faced with the unexpected and extremely undesirable (for itself) geopolitical awakening of Africa, the White House has apparently decided to go back to the well," the SVR stated.