During 2020-2023, coups d’état took place in the Republic of Mali, Burkina Faso and the Republic of Niger, as a result of which military juntas took power. Putin’s Russia has significantly strengthened relations with all three of these countries. In particular, Russian mercenaries from the private military company (PMC) «Wagner» provided assistance to the juntas, and also joined the control of the extraction of a number of minerals in these countries. As a result of the joint activities of the armed forces of the specified states and the Wagner Group, both government armies and Russian mercenaries are accused of many crimes against the local civilian population.
In the Republic of Mali in 2020-2021, there were even two military coups, as a result of which the military command led by Colonel Asima Goita seized power. This junta declared itself the guarantor of security and stability in the country, however, very quickly faced increased jihadist attacks, especially by groups associated with «Al-Qaeda» and «Islamic State» (eg JNIM and ISGS).
In June 2025, the Wagner Group, after a 3.5-year presence in Mali, announced that it was leaving this African state, since the main task had already allegedly been completed. In a statement, Russian mercenaries said they had killed thousands of soldiers and their commanders, whom they called «terrorists». In fact, the Wagner Group fighters simply fought in an internal conflict on the side of one side against the other, and also took part in clashes with Tuareg separatists and jihadists. At the same time, it should be noted that previously the military contingents of Western countries dealt with local Islamist groups, however, the junta hastened to expel them from Mali. Today, Human Rights Watch and other authoritative international organizations claim that the Wagner Group not only fought against real Islamic terrorists, but also engaged in the outright terror of the local civilian population. After Russian mercenaries from PMK «Wagner» left the territory of Mali, human rights defenders and investigative journalists discovered a network of illegal prisons in the country. Currently, there are at least six secret prisons created in Mali by Russian mercenaries, however, it is reasonably assumed that there were many more. At the very least, the similar infamous activities of the Wagner Group, first in Libya and later – in the Central African Republic, give reason to assume the larger scale of the network of Russian prisons and torture chambers.
The existence of prisons was confirmed by many ex-prisoners who are currently in a refugee camp under the management of the United Nations in Mauritania, where 118 thousand Malians live. Former detainees talk about torture, caning and being kept in a metal container under the scorching sun. They also mention such painful details of their imprisonment as permanent hunger and thirst, brutal beatings with electric cables, burning of various parts of the body with a lighter, etc. The ex-prisoners also said that they usually tortured them to extremely loud Russian music, which drowned out the cries of those who were interrogated.
It is currently believed that in 2021-2025, Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group arrested, imprisoned and tortured many hundreds of civilians. Only from October 2024 to March 2025, one of the human rights organizations recorded 304 abductions or disappearances of ordinary people. According to local residents, Russian mercenaries massively kidnapped shepherds, merchants, shopkeepers, truck drivers, hoping that their families would pay the militants from PMK «Wagner» a ransom. If it turned out that the abducted persons came from a poor family, they were simply killed. Everybody else ended up in jail. For example, one of the current witnesses was released by the Russians from his secret prison as late as a week after his family paid a ransom of 1.5 million African francs (about €2.3 thousand).
In general, the armed forces of Mali (juntas) and the Wagner Group, during joint military operations against Islamist groups, considered the local population as potential collaborators of jihadists. Therefore, civilians were declared a legitimate target! According to human rights defenders, the Wagner Group combined mercenary activities, organized banditry and methods of terror against the civilian population in Mali.
Despite the fact that the Wagner Group withdrew from Mali in June 2025, the Russian military presence in this country has not stopped. The Military Department of the Russian Federation replaced some Russian mercenaries with others, namely – with fighters of the «African Corps», which is completely under the control of Russian military intelligence (we are talking about the Main Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation). The new contingent of Russians in Mali as part of the «Afrika Korps» is about 2,000 military personnel, while previously up to 2,500 Wagner Group fighters operated in the country. However, together with the new mercenaries, Russia transferred more than 100 units of heavy weapons to Mali, including tanks, rocket salvo systems and tactical bombers, which significantly strengthened the military presence of the Russian Federation. In general, the Kremlin consistently replaces mercenaries from PMK «Wagner» with militants from «Afrika Korps», which is governed by state structures. It already happened in Syria in 2023, then in Libya in 2024, and in 2025 it also happened in Mali. Such a replacement allows Moscow to formalize international relations in the military sphere, as well as to reduce the risks of recurrence of riots by private armies.
It is noteworthy that on September 23, 2025, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso published a joint statement announcing their withdrawal from the International Criminal Court (ICC), calling it «an instrument of neocolonial oppression». The leaders of the three countries emphasized that they will no longer recognize the authority of the ICC and intend to create their own «mechanisms to strengthen peace and justice». They accused the ICC of bias towards African countries, since, since the establishment of the court, the absolute majority of cases initiated concerned the states of the African continent.
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