Britain commented on events in Africa saying it "condemns attempts to undermine democracy, peace and stability in Niger". Government officials said the country supports the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in its efforts to restore stability in Niger, Reuters reported.

"The UK is a committed partner to the democratically elected government of Niger and calls for the immediate reinstatement of President Bazum to restore constitutional order," the statement added.

While European countries verbally "condemn" what is happening, Russia is using the moment to further strengthen its influence on the continent.

"African countries still suffer from manifestations of colonialism - particularly in the economy," Russian President Vladimir Putin said during the plenary session of the Russia-Africa summit. "Russia is making real efforts to ease the debt burden of African countries," he added.

Russia will allocate more than 90 million dollars to reduce the debt burden of African countries, whose debts written off by Moscow so far total 23 billion dollars.

During his speech at the plenary session of the Russia-Africa forum, Putin also announced free supplies of grain to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, the Central African Republic and Eritrea.

"When we announced that we were withdrawing from the grain deal, world market prices rose slightly. That means our companies will get more, which means we as a country will get more in taxes. And if we receive additional income, we will share some of it with the poorest countries and deliver certain amounts of grain for free. I don't see anything wrong with that, neither for us nor for the poorest countries that will receive this grain," the president explained.

Free deliveries of Russian grain to the poorest African countries are expected to begin in the next 3-4 months.

"So that the poorest countries do not really suffer, so that there is no reason to blame us for the plight of Africa, we are ready to start supplying grain for free, for humanitarian reasons. Within 3-4 months, we will start supplying between 25,000 and 50,000 tonnes," he concluded.