Captain Ibrahim Traore In Moscow: For the Record.

Good day, Comrade President.” [Retranslated]

“It is an honor to be here for the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory.

I would like to extend my congratulations and sincere thanks for this invitation, which carries deep symbolic meaning for us.

During my visit, I have learned a great deal.

The cultural session I attended on the eve of the dinner helped me understand that history and culture are the foundation upon which a strong and resilient army is built.

Together, we have seen the immense sacrifices made by the Soviet people so that today we may live in a free world.

For this, I extend once again our heartfelt gratitude.

Moments like these allow us to reflect on our own situation and envision new paths forward.

The obstacles we face today must not stop us. On the contrary, they can serve us in some ways. Because despite all the sanctions imposed on Russia, your country has developed internal mechanisms that have brought it back to the forefront of the international stage.

We take this lesson to heart. During the parade, I was deeply impressed by the display of military equipment — from the legendary T-34 tank of the Great Patriotic War to today’s modern machines. It shows just how far the Russian army has advanced, and how technology has strengthened its capabilities. In this context, we hope our cooperation will grow exponentially.

I thank you for the scholarships already granted to students from Burkina Faso, and I hope they will continue to expand. This morning, I visited the University of Chemistry [D. Mendeleev University], and I emphasized that after defense and security, our top priority is education — especially in the sciences. We hope Russia can help us train our youth in scientific fields. Because only by developing our own industrial and military technologies can we build a sustainable future for Africa.

The war that has been imposed on us today is, in many ways, a new face of Nazism. The terrorism we are confronting is not terrorism — it is imperialism. It is our land that interests those who attack us. Ending this war, building a strong army, and launching the development of our homeland — that is the meaning of our struggle. And for this, the training of qualified personnel is vital.

We know you are engaged in a special military operation. We understand the challenges you face, and what it means for the rest of the world. That is why we are not here to ask for material aid. The assistance we are seeking is knowledge transfer. We would like to see more scholarships made available and also explore how we ourselves can fund student opportunities to study here. Furthermore, we hope that Russian universities — especially the one I visited, and others focused on science — can establish branches in Burkina Faso, complete with the laboratories necessary to provide our youth with hands-on, practical training. This is our essential request today: To transform what we have at home. To produce for ourselves. And to make Burkina Faso a hub where many young Africans can come to study science. Because here in Russia, you have mines of knowledge. You have produced great minds whose works we continue to study.

That wisdom is like a tree, and we hope to draw from its roots to nourish our own development.”