Russian army intensifying Mali assistance, Lavrov says

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MOSCOW - Russia's army is intensifying its cooperation with Mali, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday during a visit to Moscow by the African country's foreign minister.

Russia is pushing its influence in Africa, as it seeks to deepen ties outside the West amid its Ukraine offensive and is this week hosting foreign ministers from Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger -- three Sahelian countries that are led by juntas who seized power in coups between 2020 and 2023.

"Defence cooperation is developing intensively: our servicemen are actively cooperating with Mali's military, personnel training is being carried out," Lavrov told Mali's Abdoulaye Diop.

Since the coups, the three countries have turned away from former colonial power, France, and moved closer to Russia, which sends mercenaries to help them fight a jihadist insurgency.

They quit the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) at the beginning of the year, accusing the regional bloc of being subservient to France, and have formed the Alliance of Sahel States (AES), originally set up as a defence pact in 2023 but which now seeks closer integration.

The group are in Moscow for a summit with Lavrov, hailed by the Russian foreign minister as a step to "strengthen the whole suite of our relations."

Mali's Diop expressed satisfaction with the cooperation with Russia and announced President Assimi Goita would visit Moscow in June, while Niger's Foreign Minister Bakary Yaou Sangare called the summit a "historic event".