Abdoulaye Diop has met with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow to discuss regional security threats

Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop has accused Ukraine of providing support to terrorist groups operating in the Sahel region.

He made the remark during a press conference in Moscow on Thursday after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov as well as the foreign ministers of Niger and Burkina Faso, Mali's fellow members of the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

"These terrorists are supported by external actors, regional actors present in our region who assist them and provide them with logistical support - for example, Ukraine," the minister said.

"Ukraine is a sponsor of terrorism, and this must be stopped," Diop emphasized.

Lavrov echoed these concerns, asserting that Kiev has become a destabilizing force in Africa.

"Some extra-regional players are still attempting to destabilize the region. Among them, in addition to the former colonizers, there has recently been a Kiev regime that, with the full connivance of its Western sponsors, openly supports terrorist groups in this part of Africa," Lavrov stated.

The military rulers of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger have all accused Ukraine of arming and training Tuareg rebels and jihadist insurgents in the Sahel region after officials in Kiev allegedly provided intelligence to rebels for an ambush last July that killed scores of Malian soldiers, as well as Russian Wagner Group contractors.

These claims have been echoed by French mediaoutletsbut are denied by Kiev, despite the Ukrainian military intelligence (HUR) spokesman claiming responsibility for the insurgent attack.

In early August, Mali severed diplomatic ties with Ukraine after Andrey Yusov, the spokesman for Ukraine's HUR, made remarks about fighting in northern Mali. Days later, Niger's military government followed suit, in solidarity with its neighbor.

Burkina Faso's Ambassador to Russia Aristide Tapsoba told TASS that "currently, there are almost no diplomatic relations between Burkina Faso and Ukraine. Since we have created the AES, there is only one path - what one country decides, the other countries follow."

Speaking to RT in November, Haruna Warkani, a retired diplomat of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission, alsomadethe allegations. "Ukraine ... has never been transparent enough to tell the subregion or other parts of Africa its nefarious activities on the continent, and now we can see that Ukraine actually had been the enemy," he said.

(RT.com)