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Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister said that both countries were actively interacting in the military and military-technical sphere. He referred to the assistance that Russia was lending to Mali for strengthening its defense capabilities and the training of personnel on the territory of the Russian Federation for the Malian armed forces
Mali’s foreign minister Abdoulaye Diop was in Moscow recently for talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. The two leaders vowed to strengthen their bilateral security partnership. Fighters from the Russian group Wagner helped the Malian army make inroads against separatist Tuareg forces in northern Mali at the end of last year, including at Kidal.
Sergey Lavrov, Russia’s foreign minister said that both countries were actively interacting in the military and military-technical sphere. He referred to the assistance that Russia was lending to Mali for strengthening its defense capabilities and the training of personnel on the territory of the Russian Federation for the Malian armed forces. Moscow had supplied Bamako with 25,000 tons of wheat and 17,000 tons of fuel in January alone as humanitarian help, the Russian foreign minister said.
Mali is facing Islamist insurgency, which is spreading to the entire Sahel region. To top it, Mali, like other countries in the Sahel region, has faced sanctions. Recently, the regional bloc, ECOWAS, lifted the sanctions on Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger on humanitarian grounds.
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Mali has struggled to contain an Islamist extremist insurgency sweeping the Sahel since 2012. The country’s military junta felt that ex-colonizers, particularly France had failed in its mission to contain the insurgency. Therefore, it has urged the Western European countries and the UN, which have deployed their troops, to withdraw from the region.
