Exit Russians: Struggling Mali Junta faces more pressure from militants
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Interim President of the Republic of Mali Assimi Goita attend a signing ceremony following their talks at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow, Russia on June 23, 2025.
African Corps, the Russian mercenaries, have departed from the epicentre of violence in Mali, potentially exposing the towns to further raids by combined militias and adding pressure on the struggling junta.
From Saturday last week, armed groups including the al-Qaeda-linked Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA) collaborated to attack Mali’s key cities, with deadly consequences. They targeted the capital Bamako, and other cities including Kidal, Sévaré, Mopti and Gao, killing the country’s defence minister Sadio Camara.
