16 governments, including France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany, stated that they were “aware of the involvement of the Russian Federation Government in providing material support for the deployment of the Wagner Group in Mali and called on Russia to back a responsible . and creative practice in the field.”
Wagner Group,
A notorious Russian paramilitary company, and related military contractors formerly stationed in eastern Ukraine, Syria, Libya, Mozambique and the Central African Republic, according to multiple CNN investigations.
Earlier this week, flight-tracking data showed a Russian Air Force Tu-154 flying from Benghazi in Libya to the Malian capital Bamako, where Wagner made a presence in support of forces led by a renegade General Khalifa Haftar. Got it done
who leads the self-styled Libyan National Army,
This aircraft was the 223rd flight of the Russian Air Force. The Russian Defense Ministry had previously signed a contract, the details of which were seen by CNN, with a company owned by Yevgeny Prigozhin for the use of the transport aircraft of the 223rd flight. Prigozhin is an oligarch so close to the Kremlin that he is referred to as the “chef” of President Vladimir Putin.
Considered the driving force behind the Wagner group,
European states said the deployment to Mali “could further worsen the security situation in West Africa.
CNN
Reported earlier this year On human rights abuses including the arbitrary killings and torture of civilians by Russian mercenaries in the Central African Republic.
Last week, the EU imposed sanctions against Wagner; eight persons belonging to the group; And the three entities are linked because it has been described as “serious human rights abuses, including torture and extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions and murders.”
Mali has suffered a long-running jihadist insurgency that has killed thousands of civilians. Minusma, a United Nations peacekeeping mission, has been unable to suppress the violence that has claimed the lives of more than 150 of its soldiers.