MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th July, 2023) Constitutional order must be restored in Niger after a coup by the military, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.
On Wednesday, part of the Nigerien military said in a statement broadcast on national television that they had overthrown President Mohamed Bazoum, closed borders and imposed a curfew in the country "until further notice."
"We reiterate our position that constitutional order must be restored in Niger," Lavrov said in an interview with Russia's Channel One broadcaster.
He also noted that the West tends to assess coups differently, depending on whether they are in its interests or not.
"The coup (in Niger) was condemned by US Secretary of State (Antony) Blinken, the British also condemned it and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres did - they all said that it was unacceptable to change the government in an undemocratic way. In this regard, of course, the February 2014 coup in Ukraine comes to one's mind, when in response to our perplexed questions to the West, which was supposed to be the guarantor of the agreements violated by the (Ukrainian) opposition, why they could not call the opposition to order, we were told very vaguely that the democratic process is sometimes unpredictable," he said, adding "judge for yourself how differently our Western colleagues treat coups - those that happen far away on the one hand, and those that they organize themselves on the other hand."
The Nigerien military's statement came hours after members of the presidential guard detained the president at his residence and sealed off access to offices in the Nigerien capital of Niamey. The president's office said that Niger's army did not support the mutineers.
Earlier in the day, Nigerien Foreign Minister and acting Head of Government Hassoumi Massaoudou told the France 24 broadcaster that Bazoum is still being held at his residence and is in good health.
