Burkinabé–Soviet relations

Burkina Faso	Soviet Union

Burkina Faso–Soviet Union relations refers to thehistorical relationship between theUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) and theRepublic of Burkina Faso (formerly theRepublic of Upper Volta). Relations between the countries were relatively close during some parts of the lateCold War. The Soviet Union maintained an embassy in the Burkinabé capitalOuagadougou, and Burkina Faso maintained an embassy inMoscow.

Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established for the first time on 18 February 1967,^[1] during the first years of Colonel GeneralSangoulé Lamizana's military rule in Upper Volta. Bamina Georges Nebie, a later prominent government minister, served as the Voltaic ambassador to the USSR for some time. One of his successors wasOubkiri Marc Yao.^[2]

In 1983, CaptainThomas Sankara came to power in a military coup. While a radical left-wing revolutionary who had studiedKarl Marx andVladimir Lenin,^[3] Sankara – who attempted to implement what he dubbed the "Democratic and Popular Revolution" (French:Révolution démocratique et populaire) – did not align with the Soviet Union, preferringnon-alignment and self-sufficiency. Nonetheless, relations with strongly pro-Soviet states (such asCuba) were close, and Sankara maintained friendly relations with the USSR, despite many contentions – thePatriotic League for Development, closely aligned with the USSR, was initially allied with Sankara, but its members were removed from the government in 1984.^[4] In a newspaper editorial entitled "The Proletarian Spritit", Sankara – who often condemned foreign aid asimperialism – criticized the Soviet Union's foreign aid policies.^[5] Sankara also condemned theSoviet–Afghan War.^[6] In spite of these differences, the Soviet Union had some degree of cooperation with Burkina Faso – primarily militarily, in the form of provided training and equipment, and economically.^[7] Sankara made a state visit to Moscow while on a tour of other friendly states in October 1984.^[2]

By the time Thomas Sankara was ousted and killed on 15 October 1987 in a military coup orchestrated byBlaise Compaoré, the government ofMikhail Gorbachev was far too busy withdemokratizatsiya,perestroika andglasnost to continue near any of its previously major engagements in Burkina Faso and Africa overall. When theRevolutions of 1989 began, the Burkinabé state debt to the USSR amounted to 4.3 millionrubles.^[8] Burkina Faso recognized theRussian Federation as the USSR's successor state following itsdissolution in 1991. The old respective Burkinabé–Soviet embassies closed down later during the 1990s due to funding issues.^[1]

• Foreign relations of Burkina Faso
• Foreign relations of the Soviet Union
• Burkina Faso–Russia relations

• Burkina Faso–Soviet Union relations
• Bilateral relations of Burkina Faso
• Bilateral relations of the Soviet Union
• 20th century in Burkina Faso

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• Articles containing French-language text