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Russia says no talks with Mali on military ties

AFP

The Kremlin said Wednesday there were no formal discussions on military cooperation with Mali, after France warned the West African country against hiring hundreds of Russian mercenaries linked to Moscow’s foreign conflicts.

French sources told AFP this week that the Malian government was nearing a deal with the secretive Russian firm Wagner to hire nearly 1,000 mercenaries, an agreement that would underscore Moscow’s growing influence in the region.

“There are no official negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a conference call Wednesday.

A spokesperson for the Malian defence ministry on Tuesday did not deny the discussions between the government and the private security group.

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In recent years, Russian paramilitaries, security instructors, companies and advisors have grown increasingly influential in Africa, particularly in the war-torn Central African Republic (CAR).

The Wagner group specifically has been linked to Russia’s role in conflicts in Libya and Syria, where it was accused by several international NGOs this year of having carried out abuses.

“We are in contact — including through the military — with many countries, including the African continent,” Peskov added during the call.

But he said “there are no representatives of the Russian armed forces” in Mali.

Wagner was first seen in Mali by AFP at the end of 2019 when a small team was identified in the capital Bamako just after former president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita had signed a military cooperation deal with Russia.

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In the CAR, France and NGOs have denounced the role played by Wagner, which is allegedly controlled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, a businessman close to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Prigozhin, who has been sanctioned by both the EU and US, has denied links to Wagner and any role in conflicts in Africa.

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International

Trump urges Putin to reach peace deal

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated his desire for Russian President Vladimir Putin to “reach a deal” to end the war in Ukraine, while also reaffirming his willingness to impose sanctions on Russia.

“I want to see him reach an agreement to prevent Russian, Ukrainian, and other people from dying,” Trump stated during a press conference in the Oval Office at the White House.

“I think he will. I don’t want to have to impose secondary tariffs on Russian oil,” the Republican leader added, recalling that he had already taken similar measures against Venezuela by sanctioning buyers of the South American country’s crude oil.

Trump also reiterated his frustration over Ukraine’s resistance to an agreement that would allow the United States to exploit natural resources in the country—a condition he set in negotiations to end the war.

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International

Deportation flight lands in Venezuela; government denies criminal gang links

A flight carrying 175 Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrived in Caracas on Sunday. This marks the third group to return since repatriation flights resumed a week ago, and among them is an alleged member of a criminal organization, according to Venezuelan authorities.

Unlike previous flights operated by the Venezuelan state airline Conviasa, this time, an aircraft from the U.S. airline Eastern landed at Maiquetía Airport, on the outskirts of Caracas, shortly after 2:00 p.m. with the deportees.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, who welcomed the returnees at the airport, stated that the 175 repatriated individuals were coming back “after being subjected, like all Venezuelans, to persecution” and dismissed claims that they belonged to the criminal organization El Tren de Aragua.

However, Cabello confirmed that “for the first time in these flights we have been carrying out, someone of significance wanted by Venezuelan justice has arrived, and he is not from El Tren de Aragua.” Instead, he belongs to a gang operating in the state of Trujillo. The minister did not disclose the individual’s identity or provide details on where he would be taken.

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International

Son of journalist José Rubén Zamora condemns father’s return to prison as “illegal”

Guatemalan court decides Wednesday whether to convict journalist José Rubén Zamora

The son of renowned journalist José Rubén Zamora Marroquín, José Carlos Zamora, has denounced as “illegal” the court order that sent his father back to a Guatemalan prison on March 3, after already spending 819 days behind barsover a highly irregular money laundering case.

“My father’s return to prison was based on an arbitrary and illegal ruling. It is also alarming that the judge who had granted him house arrest received threats,” José Carlos Zamora told EFE in an interview on Saturday.

The 67-year-old journalist was sent back to prison inside the Mariscal Zavala military barracks on March 3, when Judge Erick García upheld a Court of Appeals ruling that overturned the house arrest granted to him in October. Zamora had already spent 819 days in prison over an alleged money laundering case.

His son condemned the situation as “unacceptable”, stating that the judge handling the case “cannot do his job in accordance with the law due to threats against his life.”

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