Jul 30, 2024
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The authorities of Mali and Mauritania are investigating the involvement of Ukrainian military instructors in the year-long conflict in Mali on the side of the rebels, the Senenews media outlet reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the fact that Ukraine is cooperating with terrorists from the Sahel region was not surprising, and Moscow actively drew the attention of the international community to such actions of Kiev.
“The fact that the Kiev regime is cooperating with terrorists is not surprising, since it has more than once resorted and continues to resort to the use of terrorist methods … Russia actively draws the attention of the international community to such frankly barbaric behavior on the part of Kiev and regularly raises this topic at multilateral platforms,” Zakharova said in a statement on the ministry’s website.
She added that Kiev regularly shells populated areas and civilian facilities, uses its population as a “human shield,” and commits sabotage and political assassinations on Russian territory.
“We are sure that the true terrorist nature of the Kiev regime will become more and more evident to the world community,” she said.
While conducting an investigation into the participation of Ukrainian instructors in the conflict in Mali on the side of the Tuareg militants, the Malian authorities discovered that the militants had been trained in Mauritania, the report said.
The Malian authorities immediately contacted their colleagues in Mauritania through diplomatic channels, who denied being involved in the conflict in Mali or supporting the Tuareg rebel coalition Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA), Senenews reported. The Mauritanian authorities launched their own investigation into the matter, the news outlet said.
On Monday, Russia’s Wagner Group private military company said that it had suffered losses after fierce clashes with Tuareg militants on July 22-27. The Malian armed forces also reported heavy losses during the clashes.
Mali has been embroiled in an armed conflict between government forces, separatist militants and Islamist groups since 2012. More than a decade of violent conflict in the country has led to persistent insecurity, climatic shocks, massive displacement and a dire humanitarian situation. The UN estimates that around 8.8 million people in Mali are in need of humanitarian assistance.
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