At the northern end of the runway was a line of attack aircraft, including Russian fighters and helicopters for a mission on the front lines of a decade-long war against the jihadists, according to footage of the ceremony on Mali’s state television. At the southern end, out of sight, was the burgeoning base of the Wagner Group, the Kremlin-linked military company that has deployed some 1,000 mercenaries in Mali in exchange for cash and the potential for lucrative mining concessions.
