Since 2020, Russia has been expanding its presence in the Sahel region, seizing the initiative from Paris and Washington and enhancing its standing across sub-Saharan Africa. Recognizing that mounting instability and popular anger with incumbent regimes provided an opening to exploit, the Kremlin capitalized on the first of the region’s coups, in Mali, and supported those that followed, in Burkina Faso and Niger. In doing so, Moscow has signaled to global audiences that it retains a degree of