A Sukhoi-Su 25 aircraft belonging to the Malian army has crashed in Gao, in the north of the country, APA has learned from security sources.
According to our information, the aircraft was acquired last August as part of a deal strengthening military cooperation between Bamako and Moscow.
The accident claimed one victim, a Russian pilot returning from a patrol, according to Agence France Presse.
The Malian transitional authorities have not yet commented about the incident.
Since May 2021, Mali has been governed by a military junta which overthrew Ibrahim Boubacar Keita nine months earlier.
Since then, relations with Paris have deteriorated.
The transitional authorities blame France for “abandoning Mali in mid-air” after Emmanuel Macron, the French president announced in June 2021 a review of Operation Barkhane, which took over from Intervention Serval in 2014, to fight jihadist groups.
To fill the void, Bamako called in Russian “instructors” considered by its Western partners as mercenaries from the private military company Wagner.
AC/cgd/fss/as/APA