Vagner Group in Mali
After the 2021 coup, French President Emmanuel Macron announced that his country was ending the Barkhane peacekeeping operation, in which the French military helped ousted President Ibrahim Keite fight Tuareg separatists. To replace him, the new head of Mali, Assimi Goita, invited the "Wagnerians". US National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby noted last year that PEC leader Yevgeny Prigozhin helped organize the withdrawal of UN peacekeeping forces from Mali "to promote the interests of the Wagner PEC." In an investigation by The New York Times in 2022, it was reported that there are about a thousand mercenaries of PMK "Wagner" in Mali. They are located on at least 15 military bases in the country.
In late-2021, reports emerged of Wagner Group forces’ likely deployment to Mali, a country that had experienced two military seizures of power in less than one year and continued to fight a growing terrorist threat that exploited marginalized populations and a history of poor governance. Pitching themselves as able to counter the terrorist threat, Wagner Group forces deployed to Mali in December 2021 amid a barrage of targeted disinformation to hide its arrival and activities.
By early 2022 there were increasing reports of Russian soldiers being deployed in Mali, believed to be fighters from the Wagner group. According to these photos, 200 of them are currently in Segou, 200 kilometres north-east of Bamako. Mali's government denied the presence of Russian mercenaries in the West African country after 15 Western powers accused Russia of providing material support to a deployment of private military contractors. The US Army estimated hundreds of Wagner personnel were in the Sahel state, but the country’s ruling army has denied this.
The nations involved in the fight against a jihadist insurgency in Mali, including Canada, Germany, France and Britain, said they "firmly condemn the deployment of mercenary troops on Malian territory". They said "We are aware of the involvement of the Russian Federation government in providing material support to the deployment of the Wagner group in Mali and call on Russia to revert to a responsible and constructive behaviour in the region". It was one of the first official acknowledgements by Western capitals that the deployment of fighters has begun in Mali after months of warnings to the Bamako government.
Ned Price, US Dtate Department Spokesman, said 15 December 2021 "We are alarmed by a potential deployment of Russia-backed Wagner Group forces in Mali. We understand that the reported deal — costing $10 million per month — diverts money that could be used to support the Malian Armed Forces and public services to pay for the deployment of Yevgeniy Prigozhin’s Wagner Group forces to Mali. Wagner forces — which are known for their destabilizing activities and human rights abuses — will not bring peace to Mali, but rather will destabilize the country further."
Mali's government denied any deployment of Russian mercenaries from the Wagner group following charges by a group of 15 Western powers involved in the fight against jihadists in the Sahel country. The government "gives a formal denial to these baseless allegations" of "an alleged deployment of elements from a private security company in Mali," it said in a statement released 25 December 2021. Mali's government "demands that proof be brought to it by independent sources" and said "Russian trainers" were in Mali as part of strengthening the operational capacity of the national defence and security forces. Bamako was "only involved in a state-to-state partnership with the Russian Federation, its historical partner", said the statement signed by government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga.
France’s foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian accused Russian private military contractor Wagner Group of plundering Mali’s resources amid heightened tensions between Paris and the country’s military government in recent weeks, including over the fate of European forces deployed in the region to fight armed groups. Relations between the two countries have deteriorated sharply since Mali’s army led by Colonel Assimi Goita staged a coup in August 2020.
The Wagner mercenaries are “former Russian soldiers, armed by Russia and accompanied by Russian logistics”, Le Drian said. “They are already at the moment helping themselves to the country’s resources in exchange for protecting the junta. They are despoiling Mali,” he told the Journal du Dimanche newspaper in remarks published on 30 January 2022. “Wagner uses the weakness of certain states to implant itself… to reinforce Russia’s influence in Africa,” Le Drian added, though he said it did not seek to replace the Europeans in the region.
Digital Forensic Research Lab’s February 2022 report found that in the months leading up to Wagner’s deployment, a coordinated network of Facebook pages in Mali promoted Russia as a “viable partner” and “alternative to the West,” encouraged postponement of democratic elections, and attempted to create local support for Wagner. Local news outlets often mirrored these narratives by publishing interviews with Russian officials, who extolled Wagner “advisors,” while claiming the group was the “unfair victim” of an “information war” because of its role in “destroying the neo-colonial system.” Maxim Shugaley, president of the Prigozhin-linked, U.S.-sanctioned Russian think-tank Foundation for National Values Protection (FZNC), criticized the United Nations peacekeeping mission (MINUSMA) in Mali (deployed since 2013 to support implementation of a peace agreement, protect civilians, and facilitate humanitarian aid) falsely claiming the UN “creates terrorist organizations.”
President Putin admitted private Russian military organizations operate in Mali, but denied his government has any role in their activities. In May 2022, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also admitted that Wagner was in Mali but on a purely “commercial basis.” Despite these admissions, the ruling Malian transition government, headed by the August 2020 coup leaders, continues to deny the presence of Wagner forces.
Amid mounting reporting that the Wagner Group had committed atrocities in Mali since its arrival in 2021, Russia’s disinformation and propaganda ecosystem continues to deploy false narratives to deflect attention and avoid responsibility.
Reports emerged in late-March 2022 of a massacre of at least 300 civilians in the central Mali village of Mourah. Witnesses reported that Malian forces and approximately 100 Russian-speaking men lined up victims in rows of 15-20, told them to kneel, and executed them. The NGO Human Rights Watch has called the Mourah killings Mali’s worst atrocity in over a decade. The Malian transition government denied its army’s involvement and claimed the troops were participating in counterterror operations in the area. Russian state media’s foreign facing disinformation outlet RT repeated this false narrative.
Just outside the Malian village of Gossi, French forces withdrew 19 April 2022 from a military base from which they had conducted joint operations with Malian counterparts for several years. Days after French forces’ withdrawal a Twitter account named “Dia Diarra” posted pixelated images of corpses allegedly unearthed near the base and asserted French troops were to blame. French military officials responded that the Dia Diarra Twitter account was “a fake … created by Wagner” and part of a “disinformation stunt.” France then introduced videos showing a dozen individuals, most likely Wagner members, and Malian troops near the Gossi base as the white soldiers covered bodies with sand. FZNC President Shugaley attempted to deflect with an accusation France had “concocted video evidence” to frame Wagner so French forces could “get away with massacres.” One regional security analyst said France’s video had “stymied this Russian disinformation effort.”
Wagner Group forces, often operating in close coordination with the Malian Armed Forces, committed unlawful killings, rapes, and other abuses. There were numerous and increasing reports in 2022 that the transition government or its agents, including associated Wagner Group forces, committed arbitrary or unlawful killings as military operations intensified in central areas of the country.
The military, Wagner Group forces, and several armed groups committed serious human rights abuses in the northern and central parts of the country. In addition to increased attacks in the center of the country, targeted and indiscriminate attacks on the civilian population in other parts of the country, notably in the north, significantly increased following the withdrawal of international forces, such as France’s Operation Barkhane.
According to the Armed Conflict Locator and Event Data (ACLED) Project, Wagner Group and the military engaged in multiple deadly attacks targeting civilians amid increasing military operations. The Wagner Group targeted civilians in Mopti, Segou, Tombouctou, and Koulikoro regions, core areas of JNIM occupation. As of August 31, ACLED recorded nearly 500 civilian fatalities from these attacks, including the killing in late March of hundreds of civilians in Moura in the Mopti region. According to ACLED, 71 percent of Wagner Group political violence took the form of violence targeting civilians.
In March 2022, elements of the Malian Armed Forces with the support of members of the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group – a transnational criminal organization – conducted a military operation in Moura, Mali, which killed more than 500 people according to the UN Human Rights Office.
According to Radio France Internationale (RFI), in September 2022, Russian mercenaries, likely Wagner Group forces, allegedly committed rape, other sexual violence, and looting in a raid on residents of Nia-Ouro, a village in the center of the country. Women reportedly received orders to go to their homes, where “white men” ordered them to undress while searching their houses. The soldiers took photos of them, sometimes subjecting them to sexual abuse and rape.
US State Department spoksperson Matthew Miller stated 15 May 2023 "The United States is appalled by the disregard for human life exhibited by elements of the Malian Armed Forces in cooperation with the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group – a transnational criminal organization – during the operation in Moura, Mali in March of last year. As we have said before, the Wagner Group is a destabilizing force whose personnel have engaged in an ongoing pattern of abuses, including execution-style killings, sexual violence, and torture in Mali and other nations struggling with instability."
Prigozhin’s rebellion will not change anything in Russia's ties with its allies, Lavrov statedd 26 June 2023. "There have been many calls (from foreign partners) to President (Vladimir) Putin ... to express their support," he said. No African government has officially commented on the events of the past weekend. But according to Cyril Payen, senior reporter for FRANCE 24, Russia "has undoubtedly become a slightly less reliable partner" since Prigozhin’s rebellion. "You can bet that people in Bangui and Bamako are wondering what the future holds," Payen added.
“The Malian state is now engaged in a double partnership, with the Russian state – the Putin camp – and with the Wagner group – the Prigozhin camp. Until now, this did not make much difference, but that could change if the two camps don’t reconcile in the long term," said lawyer and political scientist Oumar Berté in an interview with FRANCE 24’s sister radio station Radio France Internationale.
Some 1,500 Wagner troops had been deployed to Mali since 2021. The paramilitary group has developed close ties with the junta in power, helping to train soldiers as well as taking part in operations to combat terrorist groups.
On May 25, 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Ivan Aleksandrovich Maslov (Maslov), the head of Russian Private Military Company ‘Wagner’ (Wagner Group) paramilitary units and its principal administrator based in Mali. The Wagner Group may be attempting to obscure its efforts to acquire military equipment for use in Ukraine, including by working through Mali and other countries where it has a foothold. The United States opposed efforts by any country to assist Russia through the Wagner Group.
Maslov, a Russian national, is a Wagner Group senior security official who was tasked by Yevgeniy Viktorovich Prigozhin and Dmitriy Valeryevich Utkin (Utkin) to lead the Wagner Group’s mercenary units in Mali. The United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union, and Canada previously sanctioned Prigozhin and Utkin. Maslov has worked in close coordination with Malian government officials to execute the Wagner Group’s deployment in Mali. In his role as the Wagner Group’s principal administrator, Maslov has secured living accommodations for the Wagner Group’s incoming forces deployed to Mali. Maslov arranges meetings between Prigozhin and government officials from several African nations. Maslov has worked to carry out the Wagner Group’s interests in the extractive sector. There are indications that the Wagner Group has been attempting to purchase military systems from foreign suppliers and to route these weapons through Mali as a third party. For example, the Wagner Group employees may have been attempting to work through Mali to acquire warfighting equipment such as mines, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, radar, and counterbattery systems for use in Ukraine.
The UK government on 20 July 2023 announced a wave of sanctions against individuals and businesses involved with the Wagner Group in Mali, Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan. These measures will limit their financial freedom by preventing UK citizens, companies and banks from dealing with them, alongside freezing any assets held in the UK and travel bans. Ivan Aleksandrovitch Maslov, the head of the Wagner Group’s operations in Mali, who oversaw the group’s involvement in the Moura Massacre and has been involved in the commission of violations of international humanitarian law, in particular, the deliberate targeting of civilians,
On July 28, the spokesman of the rebel movement "Permanent Strategic Framework for Peace, Security and Development" (CSP-PSD), Mohamed Elmaulud Ramadan, said that the Tuareg group destroyed several columns of the Malian military and their allies - Russian mercenaries from PVK "Wagner": "A large amount of equipment and weapons were captured or damaged. The few surviving fighters and the Wagner militia were captured. As for the Azawad armed forces, we mourn 7 martyrs (...) and 12 wounded." According to the version of the armed forces of Mali, in those battles the country's army destroyed about 20 Tuareg fighters and lost two of its soldiers . In addition, according to the military, one of the helicopters of the Malian army crashed in the city of Kidal, and there were allegedly no casualties.
In the fighting in Mali, on 25 July 2024, unprecedented battles broke out in months between the army and the separatists in the town of Tinzawaten, near the border with Algeria, after the army announced that it had taken control of the strategic In-Afrak area, located 120 km northwest of Tessalit in the Kidal region. Apparently, the forces fighting on the side of Mali surrounded the rebel group in the desert in the north of the country, but due to a sandstorm they could not support the operation by air, so the Tuareg counterattacked.
Tuareg separatists announced a "major victory" on 28 July 2024 over the Malian army and its Russian allies, after three days of "fierce fighting" in the town of Tinzawaten near the border with Algeria in the north of the country. "Our forces definitively destroyed the enemy forces on Saturday, and important vehicles and weapons were seized or destroyed," Mohamed al-Mawloud Ramadan, spokesman for a coalition of Tuareg-dominated separatist groups, said in a statement. "The few survivors from the ranks of FAMAS and the Russian Wagner militia were captured," the statement, which was reported by AFP, continued. Russian military bloggers reported that at least 20 people from the Wagner Group were killed in an ambush near the Algerian border.
The Wagner Group stated: "From July 22 to July 27, 2024, soldiers of the FAM (government forces - approx.) and soldiers of the 13th assault division of the Wagner PMC under the leadership of commander Sergei Shevchenko with the call sign "Pond" fierce fighting with militants. around the village of Tin-Zautin from the Coordination Movement of Azawad (CMA) and the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Sahel (JNIM), banned in the Russian Federation. On the first day, the "Prud group" destroyed most of the Islamists and put the rest to flight. However, the subsequent sandstorm allowed the radicals to regroup and increase their number to 1,000 people. In connection with this, the command of the Wagner PMC decided to move additional forces to the combat area to provide assistance to the 13th Assault Division.
"On July 25, the militants again attacked the "musicians", but thanks to the coordinated actions of the orchestra personnel and the Malian military personnel, the attack attempt was repelled. Over the next two days, the militants increased the number of massive attacks using heavy weapons, UAVs and suicide vehicles, resulting in the loss of Wagner PMC and FAMa soldiers. The last radiogram from the "Prud group" came on July 27 at 5:10 p.m.: " There are three of us left, we continue to fight. "
Gruesome footage circulating online shows scores of bodies and several burned-out vehicles in the aftermath of the ambush, while the militants are seen celebrating their success. During the fight, a military helicopter that had been trying to provide cover for the ambushed group was damaged and had to make an emergency landing, footage suggests. Several fighters, some of whom were presumably with the private military company, ended up taken prisoner by the Tuaregs.
Tuareg rebels posing with a Ukrainian flag after defeating Wagner mercenaries. Andriy Yusov, a representative of the Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), stated, during the national telethon on Monday, July 29, that “the rebels received necessary information, which enabled a successful military operation against Russian war criminals,” adding, “We won’t discuss the details at the moment, but there will be more to come.” Ukrainians trained the Touaregs, as well as supplied them with weapons and drones. The Touaregs were also trained in combat tactics. The first of the groups was trained early in 2024r. The problem was getting the drones and weapons to them, and now the shipment has arrived and it has brought them results.
Yusov specified that Ukraine acts within the limits of international law, taking into account "all necessary procedures", and also commented on the proposal of the Tuaregs to hand over captured "Wagnerians" to Ukraine: "This is a sensitive process, so we will not comment on the details. Here we can only mention and quote General Budanov (Kyrylo Budanov, head of the GUR of the IOU - ed.), who said that Russian war criminals will receive fair punishment in different parts of the world, wherever they are."
Evidence of Ukrainian involvement in Mali had been uncovered by the administrator of the Russian military Telegram channel GREY ZONE, which is believed to be affiliated with the Wagner private military company. The instructors have allegedly been training local Tuareg separatist militants, as well as covertly bringing at least two groups of them to Ukraine to teach them to use FPV drones. While the blogger, Nikita Fedyanin, best known under the alias ‘Beliy’ (‘The White’), had been preparing a report to shed more light on the affair, he ultimately ended up being killed in an ambush by the Tuaregs. Fedyanin had reportedly been traveling with a private military company and Malian army convoy in the vicinity of the village of Tinzawaten, close to the country’s border with Algeria.
Fedyanin was a regular Russian military officer. After a term of service in the army, he began his career in the Federal Security Service. In 2019, he voluntarily went to the Middle East, where he spent more than three months, being mainly part of the Russian contingent in Syria and participating in combat operations. Subsequently, Fedyanin joined PVK "Wagner". After the start of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation into Ukraine, he participated in hostilities, in particular, in the territory of the Kherson region.
BBC writes , for Russian mercenaries, Sunday's skirmishes are the biggest losses they have suffered in their "long-range" operations (not including the war against Ukraine) — namely, since the Battle of Hasham in the Syrian province of Deir ez-Zor in 2018. Then the column of "Wagners" and the Syrian military moved towards the Conoco gas plant on the eastern bank of the Euphrates River.
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