Russia’s Wagner Group has formally announced its withdrawal from Mali, concluding a controversial three-and-a-half-year military campaign in the West African nation. The mercenary organization declared its mission accomplished and said its fighters were returning to Russia.
In a statement posted Friday to its official Telegram channel, Wagner said it had operated “side by side with the people of Mali against terrorism,” claiming responsibility for eliminating “thousands of militants and their commanders” and restoring government control over all regional capitals.
“We helped local patriots build a strong and disciplined army capable of defending their homeland,” the group wrote. “All regional capitals have returned under the control of the legitimate government. Mission accomplished. Wagner PMC returns home.”
Russia’s Wagner Group announced today that it has completed its mission and would be withdrawing from Mali, after operating in the West African Republic for over 3.5 years, since at least late 2021. Wagner operations in Mali and across Western and Central Africa will be taken… pic.twitter.com/1ITJj8rg0j
— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) June 6, 2025
Wagner’s deployment in Mali began shortly after the military junta, which seized power through two coups in 2020 and 2021, expelled French and United Nations forces who had spent a decade combating Islamist insurgents. Seeking new partners, the junta turned to Russia, which supplied weapons, training, and Wagner contractors to fill the security vacuum.
The group’s exit comes amid ongoing insecurity in Mali and follows a deadly ambush last year in which Tuareg rebels reportedly destroyed a Wagner convoy near Tinzaouaten, close to the Algerian border.
That July 2023 attack, attributed to the CSP-PSD Tuareg coalition, reportedly resulted in dozens of Wagner casualties and prisoners. Ukrainian defense intelligence later hinted that the Tuaregs had received advance information and logistical support for the operation.
Despite Wagner’s exit, Russia’s military presence in Mali is not ending. The Kremlin-backed Africa Corps, created by Russia’s Defense Ministry following Wagner’s failed rebellion in 2023, will remain in-country. According to statements on its own Telegram channel, the Africa Corps assured that “Russia does not lose ground” in Mali and will “continue to support Bamako now at a more fundamental level.”
Roughly 70–80 percent of Africa Corps personnel are believed to be former Wagner mercenaries, according to Reuters, citing Russian-language Telegram channels associated with the group.
Wagner’s withdrawal comes as Mali faces a resurgence of jihadist violence. In recent weeks, the insurgent group Jama’a Nusrat ul-Islam wa al-Muslimin (JNIM) has claimed responsibility for a series of attacks that reportedly killed over 100 Malian soldiers and Russian fighters. One such attack, a bombing on Wednesday, targeted Malian and Russian forces near Bamako.
Human rights organizations have repeatedly accused Wagner and Malian forces of abuses against civilians, including extrajudicial killings and looting, particularly in gold-rich regions.
As of March, up to 1,500 Wagner fighters were believed to still be operating in Mali. It is unclear how many will now transition to roles within the Africa Corps.
Wagner has played a central role in Russia’s foreign military strategy, deploying fighters to Syria, Libya, the Central African Republic, Sudan, and Ukraine. But since the death of Wagner’s founder Yevgeny Prigozhin in a 2023 plane crash, Moscow has sought to bring such operations under direct state control.
