The reigning military junta in Bamako, Mali has received a new consignment of Russian military hardware for the Malian armed forces, which includes “two combat helicopters and surveillance radars.”

“We are receiving this second batch of military equipment from Russia. This is the manifestation of a very fruitful partnership with the Russian state,” a statement from the Directorate of Information and Public Relations of the Armed Forces on Monday reads.

Colonels who seized control in August 2020 in Mali in the midst of security instability have leaned toward Russia while turning away from France.

Faced with a diplomatic crisis with the junta, Paris announced in February the evacuation of French forces stationed in Mali, a mission that was scheduled to conclude this summer.

According to the specialized journal Africa Intelligence, Bamako got two Russian combat helicopters and radars on March 31: “Mil Mi-35P attack helicopters” and “59N6-TE mobile radar systems.”

“If this equipment allows the head of the junta, Colonel Assimi Goïta, to personally claim to have strengthened [the Malian army] with the support of Russia, it is in fact former President Ibrahim Boubacar Keïta (IBK), overthrown by Goïta […] who is behind the order,” writes Africa Intelligence in a note published on 11 April.

According to the same source, this order was part of an agreement “concluded from the government to government in 2019” and provided for the purchase of helicopters “under financial conditions significantly more attractive” than those offered by the European group Airbus.

A communication officer at the Ministry of Defence in Bamako has however denied this information. “Even the helicopters received a fortnight ago were [not] orders from the IBK regime […] We do not recognise orders from another regime,” the official said on condition of anonymity.