Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established for the first time on 18 February 1967,[1] during the first years of Colonel General Sangoulé Lamizana's military rule in Upper Volta.

Bamina Georges Nebie, a later prominent government minister, served as the Voltaic ambassador to the USSR for some time.

While a radical left-wing revolutionary who had studied Karl Marx and Vladimir Lenin,[3] Sankara – who attempted to implement what he dubbed the "Democratic and Popular Revolution" (French: Révolution démocratique et populaire) – did not align with the Soviet Union, preferring non-alignment and self-sufficiency.

[6] In spite of these differences, the Soviet Union had some degree of cooperation with Burkina Faso – primarily militarily, in the form of provided training and equipment, and economically.

[2] By the time Thomas Sankara was ousted and killed on 15 October 1987 in a military coup orchestrated by Blaise Compaoré, the government of Mikhail Gorbachev was far too busy with demokratizatsiya, perestroika and glasnost to continue near any of its previously major engagements in Burkina Faso and Africa overall.