Their mission was short-lived. The men of the Bear Brigade, a private military company linked to the Russian Ministry of Defense, who came to Burkina Faso in May to support Captain Ibrahim Traoré's junta, are now packing up.

This unit comprises around 100 men out of the 200-300 Russian forces currently deployed in Burkina Faso. The official reason for their departure, just three months after their arrival, is to take part in the Russian defense effort against the offensive launched by the Ukrainian army in the Kursk region on August 6.

When contacted by Le Monde on August 22 via the encrypted messaging service Telegram, the commander of the Bear Brigade, Viktor Yermolaev (also known as "Jedi"), confirmed the withdrawal. "When the enemy arrives on our Russian territory, all Russian soldiers forget internal problems and unite against a common enemy," he wrote.

Five days later, on August 27, his unit's Telegram channel shared a more explicit message, stating that "in light of recent events, the brigade is returning to Crimea." Perevalne, in occupied Crimea, serves as the Bear Brigade's base camp. According to Yermolaev, Bear Brigade has "no connection with the Russian Ministry of Defense."

However, there is evidence of contact with some of its personnel. On April 5, 2023, Yunus-bek Yevkurov, the Russian minister of defense, who now oversees the Kremlin's entire military presence on the African continent, visited the Perevalne camp in person to lend his support.

According to a Western source, the departure of the Bear Brigade from Burkina Faso could also be linked to internal discontent over payment issues for some fighters. "This is complete nonsense," said Yermolaev. "We're leaving because the enemy [the Ukrainian army] has entered Russia. We will return to Africa as soon as we finish the job at home."

Russian military and paramilitary personnel have been present in Burkina Faso since the end of 2023, at the request of Captain Ibrahim Traoré, who wanted to make his regime more secure after an attempted coup d'état. They have been involved in training soldiers and cooperating with intelligence services, among other things.

The Bear Brigade members were tasked with protecting key individuals, including the Russian ambassador (according to Yermolaev) and likely also Captain Traoré himself. On July 25, in Ouagadougou, Traoré was filmed for the first time in an amateur video, surrounded and guarded by masked Russian paramilitaries in fatigues. At least one of these soldiers was wearing a Bear Brigade patch on his arm.

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