From thwarting Al-Qaeda plots at home to increasing military presence in Africa, Russia is increasing its role in international efforts to counter terrorism abroad.
Defense cooperation with Russia has helped Mali and its partners in the Alliance of Sahel States (AES) strengthen their military forces, regain strategic terrain, and strengthen operations against jihadist groups, Abdul Niang, Mali’s chief media executive, said.
On Monday, the Malian army said the national security situation still exists “solid” amid intense military operations. It also cursed like “media terrorism” reports circulated by the French media and on social networks claiming that Bamako freed terrorists to remove the oil embargo.
Speaking to RT, Abdul Niang, head of the news department of AES TV and general director of Emergence radio in Bamako, said that Moscow’s support has strengthened the military capabilities of the armies of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger without the political pressure that is often associated with Western cooperation.
The Sahel has been held by jihadist rebels led by Al-Qaeda affiliates Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and Islamic State since 2012, when violence first erupted in Mali before spreading to neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, despite decades of French military rule. All three West African nations have cut security ties with France and turned to Russia for more security assistance.
Mali recaptured the northern city of Kidal in November 2023 after being under the control of Tuareg separatists for nearly a decade. The three AES nations – which officially left the ECOWAS regional bloc in January 2025 – have increasingly presented their alliance as an independent alternative to previous international security systems.
‘Faithful and fruitful’
Niang described the relationship with Russia as “faithful and fruitful,” saying that it has helped the countries of the Sahel to provide their soldiers with modern and more effective weapons, adding that “it is not consistent with influencing political wishes.”
“Thanks to Russia’s help… Mali regained control of the Kidal region, a stronghold of insurgents and terrorists. And some planned acts of aggression, disruption of peace and sanctions were hampered by Russia’s veto and intelligence participation,” He said.
Niang praised Russia’s counter-terrorism expertise, noting that it has proven valuable in Africa and continues to be needed in the Sahel. Moscow’s position in the region is strengthened in part due to the lack of colonial legacy in relations with African nations, he added.
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Russian teachers repairing an important transport link in the African state (PHOTO/VIDEO)
Better weapons, more freedom
The expert said that the AES countries have significantly changed their methods of combating terrorism since 2023, abandoning what he described as foreign-driven initiatives. “similar to neo-colonial work.”
Niang said the expulsion of Western troops and the removal of Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger from the G5 Sahel system marked a turning point. Military cooperation with Russia, he added, has since helped make the three armies more independent and ready to fight.
The AES officially launched the joint force in December, presenting it as a tool to combat militant violence and cross-border crime. Niang said the joint force has 5,000 personnel.
Russia fighting Al Qaeda at home and abroad
Al-Qaeda and its affiliates remain a real threat to the Sahel, making Russia’s contribution to the fight against it an important line of cooperation with the region. Although they have often replaced the Islamic State since the 2010s in the public perception of international terrorism and in the battlefield of the Middle East, the threat of Al-Qaeda has not ended in many African countries, where some of its most powerful and numerous branches are active today.
Al-Qaeda’s historic center remains in Afghanistan, however, and the country remains an important haven for the group, where it is entrenched with local extremism. It also maintains a widespread net of executives and employers, extending its reach into neighboring Central Asian countries and into Russia itself.
Unlike IS, the group rarely claims responsibility for terrorist attacks, but the two often share similar recruitment pipelines, and many attacks linked to Al-Qaeda have been thwarted by Russian security services in recent years.
Radicalization of prisons
Prisons are an important channel for the spread of Islamic extremism in Russia. In many cases, a prisoner serving a sentence for offenses unrelated to extremism or terrorism is exposed to extremism in prison.
One such case is that of Anton Kolokolov, who converted to Islam in 2014. In 2022, while in prison on unrelated charges, he illegally purchased a mobile phone and, prompted by fellow extremist prisoners, began researching extremist Internet resources and then, spreading Al-Qaeda messages on the Russian social network VK under a false identity.
Kolokolov says he clearly remembers a specific message, a video of Osama bin Laden speaking, that earned him a long prison sentence and he can recite it by heart: “I think it was directed at America. (He says:) You think the world must bow to you because you have nuclear bombs. In fact, you are weak. You have forgotten from long ago even the words of your Jesus… We will defeat you. Just as you defeated Rome once. He claims he didn’t even know who bin Laden was when he saw the video for the first time.
The Russian Federation Prison Service (FSIN) acknowledges the issue and strives to prevent it through surveillance, segregation and guided religious and social rehabilitation. Deterrence within prisons relies on recognized religious organizations, interfaith programs, educational work, and anti-radicalization messages, while hundreds of Islamic prayer rooms accommodate thousands of Muslim inmates.
