Paris. December 25. INTERFAX - The government of Mali has denied information according to which mercenaries from the Wagner PMCs arrived on its territory, French media reported on Saturday.
"We officially refute the unfounded allegations according to which...fighters of a private company have been deployed in Mali," the authorities note in the communique.
They demanded that they be provided with "evidence from independent sources" of the presence of the Wagner PMCs.
Bamako also recalled that Russian instructors work in Mali: they train fighters of the local security forces. The communique stresses that Mali "cooperates with Russia - a historical partner - only at the interstate level."
For its part, the Turkish Anadolu agency claims on Saturday, citing sources in the Malian security forces, that about 500 fighters of the Wagner PMCs arrived in the capital of Mali on December 23.
"We confirm the arrival of 500 Russian fighters," they told the agency on condition of anonymity.
According to local media, these fighters will be deployed in 10 parts of Mali.
Several European countries and Canada announced on December 23 that they condemn the deployment of Russian PMCs "Wagner" fighters in Mali. The joint communique of these countries stated that the countries regret that "the transitional authorities of Mali have decided to use already insufficient public funds to pay mercenaries, and not to support their own Malian security forces and state structures working for the benefit of the Malian people." The authors of the communique also assured that they "have evidence that Russia is facilitating the deployment of the group in Mali."
