A Russian Expert Shared An Unexpected Assessment Of The Beninese Coup Attempt

He believes that the French were behind it and sought to undermine the regional security system.

The failed Beninese coup was seen by many as an attempt to replicate the region’s spree of patriotic military coups in recent years that were driven by anti-French sentiment and worsening economic and security conditions. This interpretation was lent credence by the Nigerian-led military intervention in this fellow Economic Community Of West African States (ECOWAS) member, which included airstrikes, after Nigeria threatened the same in Niger after its successful coup in summer 2023 but later backed down.

The aforesaid perception explains why the assessment of Alexander Ivanov, director of the Officers Union for International Security, was so unexpected. He told TASS that “Washington is fully aware that whoever controls the ports in Benin and Guinea-Bissau controls access to the Sahel. On closer examination, it becomes clear that President Talon was not the main target, but the entire regional security system was.”

Ivanov added that “The coup was executed so poorly that it seemed as if it followed a manual on how not to do it. Of the key facilities, only the television station was seized, and no attempt was made to reach the capital, Porto-Novo. This clearly shows that the primary aim was to grab headlines and serve the interests of external sponsors. The French conducted unusual activities, including a reconnaissance plane circling over Cotonou.”

He concluded that “France has formed a tactical alliance with the US in an effort to reclaim at least part of its former sway in the region.” Their goal, he believes, is “driven by their desire to cut the Sahel region off from the ocean, compel the governments that cooperate with Moscow and Beijing, and deprive Russia of access to regional logistics corridors.” An argument in his favor is that the Russian Ambassador to Benin announced over the summer that they plan to sign a military cooperation agreement.

France’s Le Monde then fearmongered late last month that Russia’s newly signed military deal with Togo, which authorizes them to use each other’s military ports, could be the model for the one with Benin in order to deepen Russia’s ties with the Sahelian Alliance. Even though outgoing President Patrice Talon will leave office in April, perhaps Paris thought that it can’t prevent his protégé Romuald Wadagni from succeeding him and continuing his foreign policy, ergo the need for a military coup to reset everything.

That’s a compelling line of thought, but it’s challenged by the Russian-aligned Nigerien military junta leader recently closing his country’s border with Benin and warning about the threat posed by France’s allegedly secret military base there, which Paris of course denied. Talon and Wadagni are also proud Francophiles despite the former’s pragmatism towards Russia. It’s therefore difficult to imagine France risking its influence in Benin by backing a military coup unless it was a false flag to justify a purge.

For these reasons, Ivanov’s assessment shouldn’t be taken at face value, but it nonetheless served to inspire some research into Beninese-Russian relations that challenges the prevailing Alt-Media narrative of Talon being a French puppet dead set on opposing Russia’s influence in the region. In all actuality, the failed coup attempt was probably a genuine one inspired by the Sahelian Alliance’s example, but this doesn’t mean that they had a hand in it or that their shared Russian partner played a role either.