During a visit to Bamako in Mali, Russian F.M. Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday (February 7) pledged Russian help to countries in the Sahel and Gulf of Guinea to fight jihadism, AFP reports.
During a press conference in the company of his Malian counterpart, Abdoulaye Diop, the head of the Russian diplomacy affirmed that the fight against terrorism is also “topical for the other countries of the region”. “We will provide them with our assistance to overcome these difficulties,” he added. This concerns Guinea, Burkina Faso, Chad, and in general the Sahelo-Sahelian region and even the countries of the Gulf of Guinea. »
Sergei Lavrov’s visit to Mali is another step in the rapprochement between the two countries in recent years. The Moscow envoy pledged to maintain Russian military support in Mali and to deepen Moscow’s involvement on the continent, which he believes is confronted with the “neocolonial approaches” of the West.