This is apparently on the advice of his South African political consultants who want him to keep some mystery and be above the fray as well as avoid any accusations that he seeks to return to office after a spell out of it à la Russia's Vladimir Putin...
One option is for the 62-year-old to be appointed Prime Minister under Ghazouani as President just as Vladimir Putin served under President Dmitry Medvedev as prime minister before returning as head of state...
On 7 November Haftar visited Moscow to see Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Yevgeny Prigozhin the head of Wagner the Russian firm which sends Kremlin-approved mercenaries abroad and who is close to President Vladimir Putin...
New friendsTouadéra has so much confidence in the Kremlin that he believes President Vladimir Putin is ready to protect his administration against bullying by any local or regional actor such as Chad...
Activists claim that President Vladimir Putin who had made advance payments based on Zuma's personal assurances about the Rosatom deal is allowing Russian money to find its way to the ANC's foes in the EFF and the right-wing lobby group AfriForum...
Vol 59 No 16 |
- CONGO-KINSHASA
The secretary general of Kabila's People's Party for Reconstruction and Democracy Shadary may be intended to keep the presidential seat warm for Kabila much in the way that Russian President Vladimir Putin stepped down as president to avoid breaching a two-term limit before taking the job again after a period away...
Later in November El Beshir vented his anger with Washington during a public meeting with Vladimir Putin asking Russia's President 'to protect Sudan from American aggressions'...
Vol 59 No 4 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Ramaphosa also told reporters in Davos that the nuclear deal with Vladimir Putin's Russia would not go ahead...
Vol 58 No 9 |
- SOUTH AFRICA
Much of the raison d'être of the controversial 1 trillion rand (US$72 billion) nuclear deal with Russia rests on President Jacob Zuma's belief that he owes his life to President Vladimir Putin say sources close to the Zuma family...
Yet much as President Vladimir Putin may like dealing with a strongman a range of sources have told Africa Confidential that there remain limits to Moscow's commitment to Haftar and to a much wider role in Libya...