France replaced by Russia

At the level of the Malian population and in the hearts of Malians, the Russians have already replaced the French. “It’s something that surprised me deeply. But in Bamako, you don’t find a single person who says to you ‘no, wait, French soldiers must stay to protect the country'”, reports Nicolas Bertrand, correspondent for France Télévisions in Africa. For Malians, nothing has changed since the arrival of the French in the country nine years ago.

“The Malians want to turn to something else. And another thing is Russia, which is seen as the providential solution. Even if we know that there is a lot of manipulation at this level. At the military level, the French evacuated several bases in the center and north of Mali. Well in that of Timbuktu, Russian instructors have already replaced the French, a few days, a few weeks only after their departure”, adds Nicolas Bertrand, journalist for France Télévisions. He adds that there should be more than 1,000 members of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner in Mali in the coming weeks.