As Russia’s war machine massed on Ukraine’s borders in December, for months it had been expanding its military footprint in the Saharan nation of Mali. Moscow has quietly positioned itself to replace France as the provider of security technology and weapons, amid France’s move to pull out of a nine-year military campaign in the Sahel. In an exclusive interview with The Epoch Times, a top security expert in the West African state said Russia “has already answered the call to come to Mali’s aid.” “The heads of the country are men who have a close relationship with Russia,” Dr. Mady Ibrahim Kante, lecturer-researcher at the War School of Bamako in Mali, said in a late-January email. “With the final phase of the withdrawal of French troops the transitional authorities have decided to commit to replacing the French military bases with Malian troops with Russian support.” “Russia could take advantage …
RSS Feed | The Epoch Times