The Russian Foreign Minister said that the Malian authorities could not cope with the terrorist threat and turned to a company from Russia. Paris previously warned Moscow about the consequences in the event of the appearance of Wagner’s PMCs in Mali
Sergey Lavrov
The Malian authorities had legitimate reasons to turn to one of the Russian private military companies (PMCs) to assist in the fight against terrorism, the Russian government has nothing to do with this. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Interfax reports.
& laquo;They (the authorities of Mali.& mdash; RBC We turned to a private military company from Russia due to the fact that, as I understand it, France wants to significantly reduce its military contingent, which was there and had, as everyone understood, to fight terrorists, ” Lavrov said.
According to him, the French military did not succeed in the African country and the terrorists still rule the ball there. Lavrov also clarified that the Malian authorities assessed their own abilities in the fight against terrorism as insufficient and independently decided to turn to the Russian PMCs.
In January 2013, France, at the request of the Malian authorities, launched a military operation in the north of this country. The fighting took place against the Tuareg tribes and a branch of Al-Qaeda (the organization is recognized as a terrorist organization and is banned in Russia). In July 2014, the operation was declared over, but even after that, the French military continued to fight with the rebels in some regions of the country. There are still French troops on the territory of Mali. In June, French President Emmanuel Macron said that the military contingent in Mali would be significantly reduced.
Last August, a military-led coup d’etat took place in the country. On September 18, the France 24 news agency, citing sources, reported that the new Malian authorities will involve the Wagner PMCs to train their military personnel.
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The day before, French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian noted that the appearance of the Wagner PMCs in Mali could lead to “serious consequences” for Russia. Earlier, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mali, Abdoulaye Diop, said that he did not consider it necessary to discuss with Russia reports about the transfer of employees of the Wagner PMCs to his country. According to him, they are only discussing issues of cooperation with the Russian authorities. The press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov also reported that there are no representatives of the Russian armed forces in Mali.
In Russia, the activities of PMCs are officially prohibited, the Criminal Code provides for punishment for mercenary activity: part 3 of Article 359 of the Criminal Code assumes from three to seven years of imprisonment for the participation of a mercenary in an armed conflict or military actions.
In 2016, the Russian government opposed the legalization of the activities of such companies. The government’s response then reported that the creation and activity of public associations whose goals and actions are aimed at creating armed formations are prohibited by Part 5 of Article 13 of the Constitution of Russia.
In January 2018, Lavrov again proposed to develop a law protecting the rights of fighters of private military companies. “I think that it is necessary to clearly fix the legislative framework here, so that these people (Russians & mdash; employees of the PMCs) are also in the legal field and protected,” he said.
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