MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia will continue to provide militarized aid to Mali through state channels, according to a senior Russian diplomacy official quoted by the RIA on Monday, in the wake of Bamako’s denial of Western accusations of the presence of Russian mercenaries on Malian territory.
“We will continue to defend the legitimate interests of Bamako at the United Nations as well as to provide active assistance to our Malian partners in the military and military-technical spheres within the framework of the State sectors”, declared Piotr Ilichev, director of the department of the ministry. Russian Foreign Office for international organizations, according to the RIA news agency.
In this interview, this high-ranking diplomat explained that the leaders in power in Mali could cooperate with the partners of their choice to fight the Islamist insurgents, while the downsizing of Operation Barkhane initiated by France risks according to Moscow. to further destabilize the region.
Fifteen countries engaged in efforts to ensure peace and stability in Mali – including France – denounced last Thursday in a joint statement the deployment of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group, supported by Moscow, on Malian territory.
The Malian transitional authorities, in power after two military putschs in less than a year (the overthrow by the army of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta in August 2020, then the overthrow last May of a first transitional government involving civilians and military) on Saturday denied the presence of Russian mercenaries in the country.
The spokesman for the transitional government, however, specified that “Russian trainers” were present on Malian territory as part of a bilateral agreement between Bamako and Moscow.
Last October, a cargo plane that left Russia delivered four helicopters, weapons and ammunition to Mali, an operation carried out according to the interim Malian authorities as part of a trade agreement between the two countries.
In Moscow, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that the Wagner Group does not represent the Russian state while specifying that private military contractors have the right to work anywhere in the world provided they do not not violate Russian law.
(Report Alexander Marrow and Anton Kolodyazhnyy, French version Myriam Rivet, edited by Blandine Hénault)