Tue 03 May 2022:
The Wagner Group, a Russian private military company, is present in Mali and Libya “on a commercial basis,” according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov restated Moscow’s official position that Wagner “has nothing to do with the Russian state” in an interview with Italy’s Mediaset.
He said that Moscow “explained this to our French colleagues when they became nervous because Wagner had agreed with the government of Mali to provide security services.”
“My esteemed colleague Jean-Yves Le Drian as well as (EU foreign policy chief) Josep Borrell back in September 2021 told me directly that Russia has nothing to do in Africa either through state channels or through private military companies because Africa is a zone (of interests) of the EU and France,” Lavrov said in the interview published on Sunday.
“We also explained the situation that has developed in Libya, where this private military company was invited by the authorities in the city of Tobruk, where the Libyan parliament is located,” he added.
“They are there on a commercial basis, as well as in Mali.”
The Wagner Group and its mercenaries are suspected of human rights violations in Mali, Libya, and Syria, and are said to be close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Mali government, which is dominated by the military, claims that the Russians in the country are military instructors.
According to a European official, up to 20,000 mercenaries from the Wagner Group, as well as from Syria and Libya, are fighting with Moscow’s forces in Ukraine.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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