Mali Says Russia Has Betrayed Them
- 29.04.2026, 13:17
Events are developing according to the Syrian scenario.
In Mali, where government forces and the Russian African Corps have been fighting rebels and Islamists since Saturday, the situation continues to escalate. According to rebel statements and military blogs, the Malian and Russian military continue to abandon populated areas. Against this backdrop, the Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday reported on the prevention of a coup d'état in Mali by African Corps forces, while an anonymous senior Malian official said the Russian military had "betrayed" the country's authorities, writes "Agency".
On Tuesday, rebels claimed to have captured the towns of Tessalit, Tessit, Aguelhok, Ber and Menaka, as well as the Intahaca gold mine, said the Directorate 4 Telegram channel, which monitors extremist and rebel groups in Africa and the Middle East. The rebels claim that Malian army and African Corps forces left the towns after negotiations, the post said. The channel also published what it claimed was video of rebels in Tessalita and on Intahak.
After the retreat from the town of Kidal ("African Corps" said Monday morning) "the defenses throughout the north of the country began to crumble," z-channel Rybar, close to the Russian Defense Ministry, wrote Tuesday. It reported the town of Labbezanga had fallen under the control of the Islamic State group in Sahel province and predicted an African Corps retreat from Tessalit. As Rybar writes, this city "played almost the main role in holding the north". The channel did not rule out "the surrender of Anefis and Menaka."
While the Malian army was diverted to organizing defenses in northern Mali, "Islamic State in the Sahel" militants entered the town of Menaka in the northeast of Mali near the border with Niger, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing five sources. The group was not involved in operations against the Malian army and the "African Corps" over the weekend.
"African Corps" on Tuesday evening said there were no rebels in Menaka, whose streets the Russian military is patrolling with the Malian army, according to the statement. The African Corps channel, however, acknowledged that the situation in Mali "continues to be tense."
Rebels from the Jamaat Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) group said Tuesday that they had begun a siege of Mali's capital Bamako.
On Tuesday, President Mali Assimi Goita appeared in public for the first time since the rebel offensive began, meeting with the Russian ambassador to the country Igor Gromyko.
The Russian Defense Ministry said two hours before Tuesday's Rybar post that the African Corps had prevented a coup d'état in Mali on April 25. Also in a statement, the military department said that in the town of Kidal surrendered by the "African Corps," the Russian military "fought for more than a day in complete encirclement against a many times superior grouping of militia and repelled four massive attacks."
Russia the day before also officially recognized for the first time the losses of the "African Corps" during the fighting in Mali. Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Borisenko told the Federation Council.
"Russia has turned its back on an ally"
A high-ranking Malian official commenting on the surrender of the town of Kidal told French radio station RFI that "the Russians have betrayed us." He said the provincial governor had warned the Russian mercenaries of an impending attack "three days in advance" but "they did nothing," adding that their departure had apparently been agreed in advance.
At least 400 Russian troops from Kidal were evacuated to Tessalit (300 km north) under a convoy of the Azawad Liberation Front, a rebel spokesman told French newspaper Le Monde. They will have to leave the country on their own, he said. Thus, the junta saw its staunchest ally turn its back on it, Le Monde wrote.
The African Initiative news agency, which oversees the FSB, wrote Tuesday that "no one planned to fight in place of the Armed Forces of a country of 30 million people with one incomplete brigade."