RUSSIA IN NIGERIA

(Click here for the interactive version of this map. AFRICOM gets a budget boost)

Nigeria and Russia are doing deals in nuclear energy and in oil and gas.

And there may be military cooperation.

(Russia-Nigeria Nuclear Deal To Be Signed During Medvedev Trip)

In June 2009, Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev becomes the first Kremlin leader to visit Nigeria.

A joint venture between Gazprom and Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. will be signed.

The nuclear agreement "is for cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy especially for the purpose of electricity."

Russia and Nigeria signed an agreement on March 2009 to cooperate in building nuclear reactors and jointly explore for uranium.

"Other potential areas of cooperation will also be discussed, including military and technical cooperation," said a diplomat, who added that there was already "huge" and growing cooperation between the two countries.

China is now Africa's second largest aid donor and trading partner, behind the United States.

"But Russia, the second most-active emerging-market power, is gaining." (A Battle Over Africa's Riches. )

During the Soviet era, several African countries were considered "socialism oriented" - Algeria, Libya, Zimbabwe, Guinea Bissau, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Benin, Congo (Brazzaville), Angola, Mozambique, Tanzania, Mali, Zambia and Cape Verde. Besides, Sudan, Ghana, Somalia and Guinea were also considered socialist earlier. (RUSSIA: Chasing China in Africa)