Russian forces are operating at same base as US troops in Niger ( www.cnn.com )

Russian and US troops have been operating out of the same military base in Niger for at least several weeks, a US defense official and another source familiar with the matter told CNN, putting the two militaries in close proximity to each other at a time of heightened tensions over the war in Ukraine and as the country’s ruling junta has made clear it wants US forces to leave.

The Russians have been using a separate hangar on the base, known as Air Base 101, the sources said, and are not operating in the same space as the Americans. But “it is not that big of an area,” one of the sources said.

The Russian presence at the basehas been a major point of contention between the US and Niger’s military junta, which seized power in a July 2023 coup. And it further underscores US officials’ concerns that Niger, which has served as a crucial foothold for US counterterrorism operations in the region for nearly a decade, is turning toward Russia.