Military instructors from Russia arrived at the military base in Tombuktu, which was abandoned by the French forces of the anti-terrorist operation "Barkhan".
The Malian military confirmed this information to RFI and the France-Presse news agency.
The deepening of military cooperation between Moscow and Bamako is taking place against the background of persistent warnings from Western countries, Mali's partners, about the inadmissibility of the deployment of Russian Wagner PMCs mercenaries in the country.
A significant number of Russian military instructors have been deployed in Mali, senior sources in the Malian armed forces told France-Presse. When asked by AFP whether the number of these specialists from the Russian Federation has already reached 400 people, one of the sources answered in the affirmative. Russian instructors, in particular, are stationed at a military base in Tombuktu, a city in the north-central part of the country.
RFI correspondent in Bamako Serge Daniel reports that there are already "several dozen" Russian soldiers in Tombuktu. According to the official version, their mission is to "train" employees of the local armed forces, the journalist notes.
A Malian military source regarding the presence of military experts from the Russian Federation gave RFI an extremely brief comment: "This is called after-sales service. We have purchased military equipment from Russia, and Russian instructors are in Tombuktu to train our troops. What's the problem?"