Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune pledged to nurture a greater strategic partnership with Russia last week as the North African leader lobbied for more Russian arms on a state visit to Moscow. The Algerian head of state met with Vladimir Putin for talks with Algeria having been a consistent ally of Moscow throughout the invasion of Ukraine.
Algiers is seen as one of Moscow’s only strategic partners in North Africa as the Kremlin seeks to cement its economic and political relationships on the African Continent and undermine Western sanctions. The Algerian market is a major destination for Russian agricultural exports, particularly wheat and soybean oil.
The visit will do much to unnerve Algeria’s former colonial master France which has criticised what it calls a slide towards authoritarianism by the Tebboune government and strikes at the very heart of France’s traditional sphere of influence in North Africa.
The Russo-Algerian partnership comes despite a previous bilateral energy deal between Algiers and Rome last April that could see Algeria become one of Europe’s primary suppliers of natural gas. The deal was brokered by the Meloni government which benefited from a diplomatic schism between Algeria and Spain to become Algeria’s preferred European business partner.
Algeria is already the third biggest importer of Russian military hardware globally and gets 50% of its national arsenal from Russian manufacturers. The defence partnership could alter the balance of power in the region as Algeria is currently locking horns with the pro-Western government of Morocco over the disputed Western Sahara region.
Tebboune shrugged off the potential for a Western backlash to his visit saying that it was not the role of foreigners to dictate Algerian state policy as he highlighted the Soviet Union’s role in assisting Algerian independence from France in 1962. There is speculation that his overture to Russia could cause the cancellation of a state visit to Paris this month as the Élysée Palace announced that the planned visit had been postponed.
There is an indication that Russia has already adjusted its position at the UN regarding the question of the Western Sahara to align more with that of Algeria which objects to Moroccan sovereignty over the region. Algeria embarked on a military spending spree last year as it committed 20% of its national budget to defence as tensions ratcheted up with neighbouring Morocco.
Tebboune was also invited by Putin to represent Algeria at a Russian-sponsored Africa summit next month in Saint Petersburg.
Multipolarity has changed the geopolitical game across most of West Africa over the past year as various African nations assert themselves on the back of Russian financial aid and military assistance from the Wagner mercenary group. Algeria’s southern neighbour Mali has been in a state of anarchy most of the last decade as Russian Wagner forces swept into the country following the expulsion of the French military.
The opening up of Algeria as a potential front in the new Cold War against Russia could be an unexpected black swan for European politics should tensions boil over in Western Sahara.
