A secret defence document, stamped with the seal of Russia's double-headed eagle, currently sits on the desk of Senegal's Armed Forces Minister Birame Diop. Numbered 3098-R, the nine-page file is a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on military cooperation submitted by Russian Prime Minister Mikhail  Mishustin to the Senegalese authorities.

The plan was first proposed a year ago and has now resurfaced at the initiative of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his ambassador to Dakar, Dmitri Kurakov