Abdelmadjid Tebboune spent three days in Moscow at the end of last week. Despite the war in Ukraine, the Algerian head of state wants to move closer to his traditional ally, Russia.
This three-day state visit took place at the invitation of Vladimir Putin. The aim was to strengthen the “strategic partnership” between Moscow and Algiers. A visit the Kremlin describes as “historic”. It was the first since Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s in 2008.
President Tebboune was also greeted with great pomp under the gold medals of the Saint Georges Hall of the Grand Palace in the Kremlin before receiving a standing ovation at the Saint Petersburg Economic Forum, of which he was the guest of honour. In terms of media, it was a complete success.
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With this kind of staging, Vladimir Putin first wants to show the world that he is not an isolated leader. Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, Moscow has taken care of its relations in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Abdelmadjid Tebboune jubilantly slips into the courtier’s costume and manners until he utters the sentence on the stage of the Economic Forum that earns him ridicule on social networks: “His Excellency President Putin is the friend in the whole world.” his face as if to say, “Yeah… well… well, not everyone anyway.” He seemed a little embarrassed himself at this submissiveness.
“The Algerians were born free and will remain free in their decisions and behavior,” the Algerian president replied to a question about possible pressure from the West. The day before he had specified: “Today there is a situation and maybe international pressure, but that has no effect on our friendship.”
The Russian President also needs Algeria and his money: the country is his third largest arms customer after China and India. As Algiers dramatically ramps up its military modernization — its 2023 budget is up 120% year-on-year — Russia, suffering from international sanctions and underperforming on defense, doesn’t want to see that money slip away.
Algeria wants to become an influential regional player
Algeria, for its part, is trying to get closer to Moscow in order to rebalance its ties with a historic ally, although their partnership has not made much progress in recent years. The situation in the region is somewhat tense (crisis with Morocco, war in Mali and Libya) and Algiers, which has always advocated multilateral diplomacy, is trying to diversify its partners and position itself as an influential regional actor to, among other things, to create a counterbalance role of Saudi Arabia and its Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Abdelmadjid Tebboune believes that only his Russian ally can help him preserve his independence and freedom by providing him with arms and forging a new defense agreement. Even if the two countries regularly hold joint military exercises, on this last point Russia has shown no willingness to heed the incessant warnings from Algiers.
Then there is the gas question: with the war in Ukraine, Algeria has increased its supplies to European countries, but above all it does not want this to affect its relations with the Kremlin.
Relations between Paris and Algiers are not looking good
This rapprochement with Moscow may also damage Paris-Algiers relations, while Franco-Algerian relations are quite fresh again. On May 21, a decree by the Algerian president reintroduced an anti-France rhyme into his national anthem (which consists of five). “The context of the time explains it. Today I admit that it may seem outdated,” Secretary of State Catherine Colonna responded to LCI. President Tebboune was also due to pay a state visit to France in May, but It has been postponed and the rumors of cancellation or postponement are growing by the day.