Russia pledged at the United Nations on Monday to continue giving “comprehensive assistance” to Mali, where roughly 1,000 militants from Wagner’s mercenary organisation are assisting the West African state’s junta in fighting an Islamist insurgency.
Following the death of Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin in an aircraft crash last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Wagner fighters to take an oath of allegiance to the Russian state.
Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador, stated that bilateral cooperation between Russia and Mali, as well as the military junta’s “sovereign choice” of international security allies, “keep our former Western partners awake at night.”
“Russia, for its part, will continue to provide Mali and other interested African partners with comprehensive assistance on a bilateral, equal, and mutually respectful basis,” he told the United Nations Security Council.
In 2021, Mali’s junta, which took power in coups in 2020 and 2021, joined forces with Wagner.
“As many of us feared, the transition government’s decision to close MINUSMA has already triggered renewed violence on the ground,” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council on Monday.
“Additionally, MINUSMA’s withdrawal limits the international community’s ability to protect civilians from Wagner’s predations, whose activities contribute to increased insecurity in the country,” she added.
