in august and december 2023 , the deputy minister of defense of russia, yunusbek evkurov, visited theurkina fasso, yunusbek evkurov as part of african tour, also met with the leadership of niger and mali, and in december 2023, these three countries - burkina fasso, niger and mali - announced the formation of a military alliance, the alliance of sahel states. in 2020, following a military coup in mali, they also abandoned the guardianship of paris. which are the basis of development. africa is important to russia because it stands for a multipolar world and a more equitable model of relations than the western one. and today there is russia, which is directly fighting the west in the center of europe, not hesitating to throw a challenge to him. now the center of gravity of this struggle, this confrontation by the west can be transferred to the african continent. we can stabilize african states by giving them more than just security. economic, but literally military. africa is capable of becoming a dynamically growing region of the world, on which the nature and pace of development of th