Russia, Sahel states strongly condemn Ukraine’s ‘criminal conspiracy’ with terrorists

MOSCOW, April 4. /TASS/. Russia, Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso strongly condemn Ukraine’s ‘criminal conspiracy’ with terrorist groups in the Sahel region, according to a joint statement issued after consultations between the foreign ministers of Russia and the Alliance of Sahel States.

“The parties strongly condemned acts of aggression by states that support terrorism, in particular Ukraine’s criminal conspiracy with armed terrorist groups operating in the Sahel region,” the document published on the Russian Foreign Ministry’s website said.

Earlier, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov accused the Kiev authorities of openly supporting terrorists in the Sahel region and destabilizing the situation in Africa. For his part, Malian Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said that his country considers Ukraine a terrorist state.

In November, the AES INFO news agency reported that Ukraine had supplied terrorist groups in Mali with white phosphorus ammunition, which is banned under international law.