One day after the French withdrawal from the camp in Gao, German and British soldiers from the UN mission Minusma observed the arrival of obviously Russian forces at the airport in the Malian city. In addition, two aircraft for so-called close air support – an EMB 314 Super Tucano and an L39 Albatros – were identified, the Operations Command wrote to the Defense Committee of the Bundestag on Tuesday. The letter was available to the “Spiegel” and the German Press Agency.
20 to 30 people in military uniforms who could not be assigned to the Malian armed forces were seen unloading equipment from a transport plane, it said. These are “almost certainly” members of the Russian security forces. It is assumed that the L39 cannot be operated by Malian personnel and must be carried out by Russian forces.
On Monday, France withdrew the last soldiers of its anti-terrorist operation “Barkhane” from Mali and thus also left the camp in Gao. Mali, with around 20 million inhabitants, has experienced three military coups since 2012 and is considered to be extremely unstable politically. Since the most recent coup in May 2021, the country has been run by an interim military government, which has been criticized by Western states for its close ties with Russia.
