Russia and Mali boosting defense ties
A high-level Russian delegation led by Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov has visited Mali and held talks with the West African nation's officials on strengthening bilateral security cooperation.
Yevkurov's trip to Mali comes after he signed a military cooperation agreement in the Central African Republic during a visit late in February.
Mali's interim president, General Assimi Goita, received the Russian delegation on Tuesday, his office announced in a brief statement on Wednesday.
Russian news agency African Initiative reported that negotiations between Yevkurov and Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara focused on the security situation in the Sahel region. The parties also discussed implementing previously signed bilateral agreements on military-technical cooperation, according to the outlet.
Mali's north has been an epicenter of a lethal jihadist insurgency in the Sahel region, which erupted in 2012 and has since spread to neighboring Niger and Burkina Faso. Fatalities reported across the three West African countries reached an all-time high of 7,620 in the first half of 2024 alone, according to the non-profit organization Armed Conflict Location and Event Data.
The military rulers of Bamako, Niamey, and Ouagadougou have severed defense ties with some previous partners, including France and the US, accusing them of failing to quell the decade-long violence. The former French colonies have jointly sought security cooperation with Moscow in combating terrorism under the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) they recently established.
Last September, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov and Niger's ambassador to Russia, Abdou Sidikou Isa, held talks about resolving the longstanding conflicts in the Sahel region days after an Al-Qaeda-linked group claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a military training school in Bamako, Mali. The discussions in Moscow also came weeks after rebels allegedly backed by Ukraine carried out an ambush that killed scores of Malian soldiers and Russian Wagner Group contractors.
Russia has since assured the African state and its allies Niger and Burkina Faso of its military support. Last month, Anton Kobyakov, an adviser to Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Moscow has made developing partnerships with Africa a top foreign policy priority. Earlier in February, the Russian Foreign Ministry inaugurated its Department of Partnership with Africa, a move Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said reflects how the Kremlin prioritizes its ties with the continent's countries.
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