According to news reports, France and Germany are dismayed that authorities in the West African country of Mali are in talks with the Russian government over deploying mercenaries from the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company.
According to the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, France and Germany threatened to pull their troops that have been assisting the Malian government, which quickly reacted to say it hadn’t yet formally signed a deal with the Russians.
Wagner mercenaries have operated in Ukraine, Central African Republic (CAR), Mozambique, Libya and Syria, and have credibly been accused of war crimes.
On September 15, The Moscow Times quoted Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov as denying that Russia was in talks with Mali on military ties.
“We are in contact — including through the military — with many countries, including [on] the African continent… [t]here are no representatives of the Russian armed forces [in Mali],” Peskov was quoted telling reporters in a conference call.
Peskov reportedly also told reporters: "There are no official negotiations."
That denial is misleading.
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