Mali: Russia’s Wagner Implicates West, Ukraine in Mali Clashes

Separatist fighters and al-Qaida affiliates in Mali reportedly dealt the Russian military regiment Wagner its greatest battlefield defeat in Africa on July 26 and 27.

The junta in Mali has a contract with the Russian Defense Ministry and embeds what it calls “Russian military instructors” or the Wagner troops with its forces in a struggle against the separatist and jihadi groups.

News and social media have offered conflicting accounts on the fighting, and the number of Wagner mercenaries killed.

Information compiled by VOA sister organization Radio Liberty indicates Tuareg separatist rebels and al-Qaida affiliated groups ambushed Wagner fighters and Mali government forces near the town of Tinzaouaten, which borders Algeria.

The Russian military propaganda sustained a significant loss with the death of the popular Telegram channel the Gray Zone, whose administrator was among the Wagner troops killed in Mali, analyst Ivan Filippov told VOA’s Russian Service.

The Russian government, the Kremlin, and the Defense Ministry did not comment on the clashes in Mali.

Wagner said the “radicals” employed heavy weapons, drones and “suicide vehicles” to inflict losses on Wagner mercenaries.

Telegram channels linked to the Russian security service and Wagner say the Malian fighters killed anywhere from 20 to 80 Russian troops and captured 15.

Russian state media have reported on the events, and sought to implicate the West, or Ukraine, in the attacks.

Aleksandr Ivanov, director of Wagner Front company Officer’s Union for International Security (OUIS), told Russia’s state-run TASS news agency the West was directing the separatists.

“The ambush, they found themselves in, turned out to be much better prepared than what the [Malian government forces] had faced before. They had reconnaissance, special units that drew the column out, the necessary equipment and weapons. In addition, the weather played against us,” Ivanov said.

“Apparently, this is confirmation that Western forces have taken over coordination over the militants.”

That is unsubstantiated.

Neither Ivanov nor TASS provided evidence to support the allegations.

The U.S. has sanctioned both Ivanov and the OUIS for their Wagner-linked activities, including destabilizing countries in Africa.

Olayinka Ajala, an expert on West Africa, told Newsweek there are “unconfirmed reports” that the French military are supporting the Tuaregs, which “are building alliances with al-Qaida related forces.”

France had waged a 9-year operation to fight Islamist forces in Mali’s north, before pulling out in August 2022 after a pro-Kremlin military officer Assimi Goïta took power in a 2021 coup.

France had shown success in neutralizing jihadi leaders, but was not able to compel successive governments to introduce governance improvements that “might have eroded the jihadists’ ability to recruit,” a June 2022 report by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center said.

As France’s operations were winding down, Goïta invited the Wagner group in late 2021. At the time, Wagner was operating as a private military company. In 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian Defense Ministry to take command over the Wagner troops.

Wagner has also accused Ukraine of supporting Tuareg rebels. Russia’s state-run broadcaster RT said it had received photos allegedly showing Ukrainian instructors working in Mali. RT also alleged Kyiv had brought Mali separatists to Ukraine to teach them how to use First Person View drones.

Ukraine does not deny assisting Mali rebels.

Andriy Yusov, representative for the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, claimed the Mali rebel forces “received necessary information, which enabled a successful military operation against Russian war criminals,” the Kyiv Post wrote in a July 29 post on X, formally Twitter.

The Kyiv Post published a photograph “from sources in Ukraine’s defense and security sector” showing the Tuareg rebels posing with a Ukrainian flag.

However, the Russian independent news site Istories reported that the photo’s forensic analysis showed evidence of digital manipulation and some people along with the Ukrainian flag may have been photo-shopped into an existing image.

During a global food crisis in 2022, Russia methodically targeted Ukraine with missile strikes and disrupted Ukraine’s ability to produce and export grain. Moscow also spread propaganda falsely blaming Kyiv and the West for fueling global food insecurity in Africa and elsewhere.

In August 2023, Ukraine vowed to “free Africa from Russia’s grip.”

The Kyiv Post published several videos allegedly showing Ukrainian special forces engaged in operations against Wagner forces in Sudan and Syria.

Wagner long operated in the shadows, denying its presence in many African states, and links to the Russian government. Putin once claimed that Wagner PMC did not exist.

That changed after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, where tens of thousands of Wagner troops participated in the fighting.

After Wagner PMC engaged in a short-lived rebellion against the Russian government in June 2023, Putin admitted that “the maintenance of the entire Wagner Group was fully provided for by the State.”

After the sudden death of Wagner leader and founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in 2023, Russia’s defense ministry assumed control of Wagner, adding them to its newly created Africa Corps.

As in other African countries, Wagner props up Mali’s undemocratic regime in exchange for a share of lucrative mineral resources.

A February report from the U.S. State Department said that while Wagner portrays itself as a stabilizing force, “terrorist violence against civilians since 2021 has surged by 278 percent” in Mali.

Wagner forces have allegedly committed numerous atrocities in the country.