Russia’s Africa Corps will remain in Mali and continue supporting the country’s military junta, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday, directly rejecting a demand from Tuareg separatists that Russian forces leave the country following five days of escalating insurgent attacks.
“Russia will continue, including in Mali, to combat extremism, terrorism and other harmful phenomena and will continue to provide assistance to the current government,” Peskov told AFP.
⚡️ @mod_russia:
On April 25, Units of the African Corps prevented a coup d’état in Mali & helped avert mass civilian casualties.
The enemy, trained by Ukraine/EU instructors, has suffered heavy casualties, but hasn’t abandoned its aggressive intentions.https://t.co/WGNBOgaVtA pic.twitter.com/H3ecfYlaBO
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) April 28, 2026
The Kremlin’s public stance came as the Azawad Liberation Front (FLA), the Tuareg-dominated separatist coalition, escalated its political pressure following the weekend offensive that killed Defense Minister Sadio Camara and forced Russia’s Africa Corps out of Kidal, a strategic northern garrison the group had held since helping Malian forces seize it in 2023.
FLA spokesman Mohamed Elmaouloud Ramadane told AFP in Paris that “the regime will fall, sooner or later” and called for Russia to withdraw from the entire country.
🇲🇱 Mali’s Tuareg rebels told AFP on Wednesday the country’s ruling junta “will fall, sooner or later” and that they intend to conquer the north, just days after unprecedented large-scale attacks targeting the nation’s military government ➡️ https://t.co/jGeo4kpy4Q pic.twitter.com/gv1Fr3oUQC
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 29, 2026
What is underreported is the internal fracture the Kidal withdrawal opened. A senior Malian official told RFI that Russia’s Africa Corps “betrayed” Bamako, stating the regional governor warned the mercenaries three days before the assault but they failed to act.
Russia’s public commitment also faces mounting operational strain. On April 25, the same day Africa Corps was negotiating the Kidal exit deal with the FLA, a Mi-8AMTSh transport and assault helicopter was shot down near Wabaria in the Gao region, killing its crew, according to aviation Telegram channel Fighterbomber.
The al-Qaeda affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) separately announced Thursday it had captured the Hombori military base in central Mali and seized two checkpoints near Bamako.
Reuters verified the footage against satellite imagery. JNIM earlier threatened a full siege of the capital, a city of 4 million people, and multiple road axes around Bamako have been blocked since Wednesday.
“A full-scale blockade on Bamako will likely force the Malian military to prioritize securing the capital and deprioritize other areas, further complicating efforts to regain control,” Héni Nsaibia, senior West Africa analyst at the conflict-monitoring group ACLED, said in a statement.
Mali held a state funeral Thursday for Camara, widely considered the architect of the junta’s pivot to Russia. Dr. Sorcha MacLeod, a former member of the UN working group on mercenaries and lecturer at the University of Copenhagen, noted that the Africa Corps, which a senior French military official told BBC Verify last year is limited to roughly 2,500 troops, has not arrested the insurgents’ momentum in more than four years of operations. “Other states that have hired Africa Corps will be watching very closely,” she said.
