The French army says it has filmed Russian mercenaries burying bodies near a Malian military base to falsely accuse France’s departing forces of leaving behind mass graves, reports The Guardian.
The video, filmed with a drone and seen by AFP on Thursday, shows what appear to be Caucasian soldiers covering bodies with sand near the Gossi base in northern Mali.
The claim came after a Twitter account using the name Dia Diarra, who describes himself as a “former soldier” and “Malian patriot”, posted images of pixelated corpses buried in sand and accused France of atrocities.
“This is what the French left behind them when they left the base in Gossi … We cannot keep silent!” the account wrote.
France’s general staff called the Twitter video an “information attack” and said the profile was “very probably a fake account created by Wagner”, a private Russian mercenary group.
France’s army said comparing the photos published on Twitter against images taken by a special sensor allows them to “draw a direct line” between Wagner’s activities and what has been falsely attributed to French soldiers.