Russia and Nigeria have confirmed a contract for the delivery of 12 Mi-35 attack helicopters. The first batch of six has already been delivered to the African country as part of the September 2015 order.
Nigeria ordered 12 Mi-35Ms in September 2015. Deliveries began in December 2016, with half of the order presently fulfilled. The delayed delivery of the six other copters has been credited to sanctions against Russia.
Nigerian Ambassador to Russia Steve Davies Ugbah maintained that the military cooperation between Abuja and Moscow will continue seeing as Nigeria will benefit immensely from Russian equipment in fighting Boko Haram and ISWAP.
Russia held an African summit and has announced an increased interest in Africa especially in terms of defense cooperation and as such the completion of the order to Nigeria will be fundamental in cementing relationships being fostered by the Kremlin. Additionally, the copters will help Nigeria and the G5 coalition troops in fighting jihadists in the Sahel region.
