On the Russian side, the meeting was attended by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office – Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov, Defence Minister Andrei Belousov, Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov, Head of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare Anna Popova, and Director General of State Atomic Energy Corporation Rosatom Alexei Likhachev.
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President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr President, friends,
We are delighted to see you. Before we begin, I would like to thank you once again for your decision to take part in celebrations marking the 80th anniversary of Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
I remember our constructive and productive conversation when you first visited our country in 2023 to participate in the Russia–Africa Summit in St Petersburg. Your current visit to Russia to attend celebrations of the 80th anniversary of Victory is deeply symbolic and reflects the friendly nature of the Russia-Burkina Faso relations.
I would also like to mention your country’s contribution to defeating German Nazism and its satellites. About 30,000 people from modern-day Burkina Faso fought as part of the anti-Hitler Coalition, in the Free France formations led by the legendary son of the French people General Charles de Gaulle.
Today, we are united by a common goal of fighting terrorism and extremism. We will continue to help the Republic in restoring the rule of law and constitutional order and to assist in suppressing the radical groups that are still active in certain parts of Burkina Faso.
Over the past two years, we have made significant progress in expanding mutually beneficial cooperation across various areas. In late 2023, after a pause that lasted over 30 years, the Russian Embassy in Ouagadougou resumed its operations. A regular political dialogue was established.
Even though bilateral trade remains modest, it is nonetheless on the rise, which is a promising trend that should, of course, be encouraged. We will work together to further strengthen economic ties and diversify mutual trade.
The Burkina Faso Economic Days in Russia in October 2024, which were attended by a high-ranking Burkinabe delegation headed by the Prime Minister, were beneficial in this regard.
Work is under way to create an intergovernmental commission. A dedicated working group was formed in late 2024.
We will continue to help your country in training national personnel. The Russian government scholarship quota for Burkinabe citizens has been more than doubled for the 2024–2025 academic year. This year, we are prepared to take 27 more students from your country. The tuition will be covered from Russia’s federal budget. In all, about 3,500 students from Burkina Faso received their education in Russia.
Cultural and humanitarian ties have been promoted since 2024 by the Ouagadougou-based Russia House, which offers Russian language classes, among others.
Cooperation in healthcare and sanitation holds a lot of promise. On April 24–25, Ms Popova visited Ouagadougou. We are ready to carry out joint scientific research, develop laboratory infrastructure, and train specialists.
We prioritise humanitarian aid to Burkina Faso as well. Last year, we shipped to your country 25,000 tonnes of wheat free of charge. This month, a large shipment of other foods will arrive in Ouagadougou.
We appreciate close coordination with Burkina Faso in the international arena, including at the United Nations and other international organisations. Consultations between Russia and the Confederation of Sahel States have become a valuable new cooperation format. The first such meeting took place at the level of foreign ministers in Moscow in April.
I think our prospects are good across many areas. We have an opportunity to discuss some of them today.
President of Burkina Faso Ibrahim Traore: (Speaking Russian.) Good afternoon, Comrade President.
(Retranslated.) Thank you very much.
I am honoured to be able to take part in the Great Victory celebrations. I would like to thank you for the invitation. It is very symbolic for us.
I must say that during this visit I learned a lot about the culture and history which were the foundation of the resistance of the Russian people. I learned about the sacrifices made by your people which made it a free nation today.
I would like to thank you once again for inviting me. This particular moment and this meeting give us a chance to think about what is happening now and to think ahead.
Today’s obstacles should not stop us. To some extent, these obstacles even play into our hands, because despite the sanctions that have been imposed against the Russian Federation by many countries, Russia occupies a prominent place in the international arena, and we take this into account, we understand that it is not easy.
I watched soldiers marching in front of us, I saw the military equipment, including tanks that took part in the Great Patriotic War, and I saw modern equipment as well. We would like cooperation between us to develop exponentially and to take new forms.
We thank you for your attitude towards Burkina Faso. Today, I visited the Mendeleev Institute, and we understand that in addition to defence and security, there is another important sphere, namely, science and education. We would like Russia to help us educate our young people and teach them science, so that we can develop our own production, industry, and engineering, because it is very important for Africa.
We believe that the terrorism we are witnessing today comes from imperialism, and we are fighting it. If we put an end to this war, if we have a strong army, we will be able to engage in developing our homeland. That is what we see as the purpose of our struggle. This is why it is utterly important to build and train staff.
Very often in Africa there are a lot of expectations, a lot of needs in terms of equipment and hardware, which is why we have much to do. We would like to ask for help, and the main thing you can help us with is the transfer of technology and know-how.
We need to understand how we can spread the universities that exist in Russia to Burkina Faso, how we can open university branches in Burkina Faso, to train our citizens, our students in a more practical way. This is our fundamental objective. We would like Burkina Faso to develop and for many students to come to us and to study science.
We see the wonderful youth of the Russian Federation. There are many young researchers among them. And we would like you to share your experience.
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