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    In the case of the only Malian Su-25, a Russian mercenary was killed

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    The Mali Air Force lost its only Su-25 strike in an accident at Gao Air Base in eastern Mali on October 4. The pilot of the machine, who according to available sources, was of Russian nationality and most likely a mercenary from the notorious Wagner Group, lost his life. One aircraft mechanic on the ground was also killed and at least ten people were injured, including two civilians. The airport has been temporarily closed.

    The accident happened at 9.26 a.m. The cause is unknown, but officially stated that nothing indicates the destruction of the machine as a result of enemy actions. On the only available recording you can hear that the motors (or at least one motor) were working until the last moment. It also appears that the pilot is trying to get the plane out of a dive flight, but this may only be an illusion caused by the perspective and the uniform sky background. According to the official position, the Su-25 was returning to the airport after completing a task to support the civilian population, but there are also rumors that the pilot took off arbitrarily, without the knowledge and consent of the Malians.

    Mali picked up the Frogfoot in the first half of August this year. The machine bearing the number TZ-20C was a kind of crown jewel in the batch of planes and helicopters handed over by Russia. In addition to the Su-25, Bamako received six L-39C Albatros training and combat aircraft, two Mi-24P helicopters and one Mi-8T helicopter. Earlier, in December last year, Mali received two Mi-24P and four Mi-171Sz. During the August ceremony of handing over the machines, Defense Minister Sadio Camara emphasized the mutual benefits of cooperation with Moscow and stated that the contracts would contribute to the development of combat and reconnaissance capabilities.

    As we wrote in the article Between France, Russia and the fall – the anatomy of the crisis in Mali, apart from the Mi-8, the acquisition of these machines does not meet the real needs of the armed forces, whose main task should be to combat fighters carrying out rapid and coordinated attacks aimed mainly at civilian targets. In a conflict like the one in Mali, a larger fleet of undemanding helicopters carrying soldiers and providing them with limited fire support would be more useful than a specialized strike aircraft, especially since the helicopters can also be used for other tasks, such as medical evacuation or delivering humanitarian aid.

    Aviation modernization is carried out without being oriented towards long-term goals. Moscow is handing over aircraft to the Malians with a view to making them dependent on each other, and for the Assimi Goïta’s junta, this is an opportunity to boast about a radical qualitative leap in the air force. And that the jump is illusory? It doesn’t matter, it’s all a matter of the right spin.

    The problem is that the Su-25 is a relatively complicated machine, maybe not against the background of Western planes (or even Russian multi-role fighters), but certainly against the background of what Malian personnel were familiar with, who had no contact with combat jet aircraft for at least ten years, i.e. from the grounding of the last MiG-21. Hence the need to delegate the pilotage – and probably some groundhandling tasks as well – to Russian mercenaries until enough Malians are trained.

    The neo-Nazi Wagner Group is responsible for defending the Kremlin’s interests in Mali (which mainly means securing access to Malian natural resources, especially gold deposits). As in Ukraine or earlier in Syria, also in Mali their hallmark is the cruel crimes committed against the civilian population. The worst crime of the Wagnerites in Mali so far is the slaughter in Moura in March this year, carried out in conjunction with government forces. According to various sources, 200–500 people were murdered there.

    Soon after, the conflict in Ukraine forced the recall of some “soldiers” from Mali to the local front (especially to the Bakhmuck section), but a large number of them remained in Africa. Their role now is to keep an eye on the members of the junta, both in the sense of protecting and looking at their hands. They had been unsuccessful in fighting the militants from the start, and now that their contingent has been cut back, the task has been thrown back onto the shoulders of the government forces. It is unofficially known that Assimi Goïta has problems finding money to pay for the services of the Wagnerists.

    It can be assumed, however, that even if the Goittas run out of money completely, the Wagnerites will not abandon him so completely. After all, they are there not on behalf of the Mali government, but on behalf of the Kremlin, so even if they are not fighting on the ground, they carry out reconnaissance using Orlan-10 drones and provide pilots to the Malian air force. They are the ones who fly the Mi-24, and probably at least from time to time also on all other machines serving in the Armée de l’air du Mali, with the exception of three A-29B Super Tucano (Brazil delivered four copies in 2018, one crashed two years later).

    There is nothing surprising here. The fact that the private army of Dmitry Utkin and Yevgeny Prigozhin has its own combat aviation has been known for a long time. The Wagner Group owns planes obtained directly from the armed forces and without nationality markings, and employs pilots who have served in the Russian Air Force behind them to fly. He does not complain about the lack of volunteers, because he pays very well (as for Russian conditions) and does not look at anyone’s papers, except for verifying the pilot’s qualifications. Therefore, Prigożyn is employed by airmen who have been disciplinarily removed from the army.

    Al-Chadim Base in Northeast Libya used by the Wagner Group. There, the satellite captured Su-24 aircraft and Pancyr anti-aircraft systems belonging to mercenaries, and Il-76 transport aircraft of the Russian Air Force.
    (DoD)

    One such pineapple in May this year was killed in Ukraine, by the way, in the Su-25. Major General Kanamat Batashov ten years ago persuaded his colleague, Colonel Olejnik, to fly together at the controls of the Su-27UB, a plane on which Batashov was not trained. Olejnik allowed Batashov to perform acrobatics, which ended up crashing the machine and breaking the general’s career. According to the BBC, Batashov, sentenced to a suspended prison sentence in 2013, started working in civil aviation, and then in the Wagner Group. His death gave the first tangible evidence of the involvement of Wagner’s air force in the war in Ukraine.

    Wagner’s air force also appeared in Libya, where the Kremlin supports Chalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army. Before the war in Ukraine, it was in Libya that the Wagner Group made the most intensive use of its aviation. In May 2020, the Americans revealed information about the arrival of several MiG-29 fighters and Su-24 front bombers in Libya. Previously, they had been repainted to hide their true origin. At least two MiG-i-29s crashed shortly after arriving in Africa.

    See also: Indian aircraft carrier Vikrant (finally) commissioned

    Aleksander Markin, Creative Commons Attribution – On the same terms 2.0

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