Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune is expected in Paris for a state visit which should take place, unless further postponed, before the end of June. But Russia, a great economic and military ally of Algiers, insisted that the Algerian president go to Moscow before his visit to Paris.

According to our sources, the Russian ambassador in Algiers handed over, at the end of January, a letter from Vladimir Putin to President Tebboune proposing new deliveries of Russian military equipment. This offer followed a report by the Russian military intelligence services to the Kremlin alerting them to the fact that talks had been discreetly initiated between the Algerian army staff and French arms groups, which could lead to the signing of contracts during the expected visit of the Algerian president to Paris.