Burkina Faso has experienced the most rapid deterioration of the security situation of all the Sahel states this year. With 3,252 deaths, it is already far above last year's figure (2,359) and almost on a par with Mali. The government now controls only a good half of the country. More than two million people have had to flee. That is one in ten of the total population. With the second coup within eight months in Burkina Faso, the "epidemic of coups d'état" that has occurred primarily in Africa over the past two years continues. "The extent to which Russia is behind the new coup is still unclear," says Ulf Laessing, the head of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung's Sahel regional program. The Kremlin has been courting military cooperation with Burkina Faso for some time, as it has long done in Mali. "At least parts of the military government have sympathies for Russia," says Laessing, "the new government will not be able to ignore the pro-Russian sentiment." Burkina Faso is also of interest to the Kremlin economically This has been systematically built up for years. Burkina Faso is one of the most successful markets for Russian foreign broadcaster Sputnik, and Russia Today has also massively expanded its French-language propaganda offerings here. In addition, the Prigozhin troll factory "Internet Research Agency" continues to heat up the mood against the former colonial power France in social media. This benefits Russia's geopolitical interests, which, after the Central African Republic and Mali, is trying to detach another country from France's sphere of influence in Africa. Moreover, the crisis in Burkina Faso could worsen security in neighboring Côte d'Ivoire — France's most important ally in West Africa.