Last November, around 200 Algerian and Russian soldiers participated in the “Desert Shield 2022” exercise organized in the Bechar region on the border with Morocco. This is the first time that Algeria has conducted such maneuvers focused on the search, detection and destruction of terrorist groups. They followed that carried out in North Ossetia in October 2021.
A few weeks ago, the Algerian and Russian navies participated in a four-day joint exercise in the Mediterranean Sea. The People’s National Army participated in the Vostok 2022 maneuvers in eastern Russia.
As we can see, military relations between Algiers and Moscow are good… and they will soon get even stronger.
Indeed, on February 27, at the head of a large delegation, the Secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, met with the Algerian Army Chief of Staff, General Said Sanegriha, to discuss “the state of inter-military cooperation.” Forces of both countries and means of strengthening it”
Mr. General Sanegriha commented that Patrushev’s visit “reflects our firm and clear desire to further strengthen the strategic and historic partnership, especially in the field of military cooperation between the two countries.” It was quoted in a press release issued by the Algerian Ministry of Defense.
While Russia is already – and has long been – a major supplier of military equipment to Algeria, the new impetus the two countries intend to give to their cooperation could result in new arms deals. This is a multi-faceted acquisition in recent years for the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces’ capability development [CAESAr, F-16 Viper, drons, hélicoptères AH-64E Apache, etc]. Also, the Algerian military budget has doubled to 23 billion euros by 2023.
No doubt we will hear about Algerian President Abdelmadjid Debon’s state visit to Russia next May.
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