While the United States has advised its citizens to leave Mali due to the deteriorating security situation, a purported whistleblower claims that the Russian embassy has also issued an evacuation notice. This is false news, officially denied by the Russian embassy in Mali.

After the United States, is it Russia's turn to evacuate its citizens from Mali?

Since September, the security situation in Mali has deteriorated significantly. This is largely due to the imposition of a fuel blockade by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims ( JNIM ), an Al-Qaeda affiliate, which is particularly targeting the capital, Bamako.

In this context of tensions, the US Embassy in Mali urged American citizens on Tuesday, October 28, to “leave Mali immediately” using commercial flights.

On X , Nikolai Piotr Melnikov, an internet user who describes himself as a "Russian political scientist, whistleblower, and investigative journalist," claims that Russia has also advised its citizens to leave the country. "The security situation in Mali is deteriorating and becoming more complex. The army is struggling to contain the advance of terrorist groups, and the capital is facing a severe fuel shortage. Russian intelligence services fear a collapse of the Malian state by next spring, as happened in Syria," he explains in a message posted on October 29 in Russian.

To support his claim, Nikolai Piotr Melnikov shared an alleged screenshot of a "news alert" supposedly from the Russian news site Sputnik. The post claims that the Russian embassy urged its citizens to "leave Mali immediately."

After the United States, is it Russia's turn to evacuate its citizens from Mali?

Since September, the security situation in Mali has deteriorated significantly. This is largely due to the imposition of a fuel blockade by the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims ( JNIM ), an Al-Qaeda affiliate, which is particularly targeting the capital, Bamako.

In this context of tensions, the US Embassy in Mali urged American citizens on Tuesday, October 28, to “leave Mali immediately” using commercial flights.

On X , Nikolai Piotr Melnikov, an internet user who describes himself as a "Russian political scientist, whistleblower, and investigative journalist," claims that Russia has also advised its citizens to leave the country. "The security situation in Mali is deteriorating and becoming more complex. The army is struggling to contain the advance of terrorist groups, and the capital is facing a severe fuel shortage. Russian intelligence services fear a collapse of the Malian state by next spring, as happened in Syria," he explains in a message posted on October 29 in Russian.

To support his claim, Nikolai Piotr Melnikov shared an alleged screenshot of a "news alert" supposedly from the Russian news site Sputnik. The post claims that the Russian embassy urged its citizens to "leave Mali immediately."

A blatant impersonation of Sputnik

This is a blatant fake. This supposed "breaking news alert" is actually a plagiarism of the Russian media outlet Sputnik, as well as the French daily newspaper Le Figaro. To create this bogus article, the author has indeed misappropriated the graphic design of Le Figaro's publications. He has copied the newspaper's font and the "breaking news alert" box usually found on posts on Le Figaro's Facebook page. He has also added the Sputnik logo.

Moreover, no trace of an article calling for the evacuation of Russian nationals can be found on the Sputnik website.

Similarly, the website of the Russian embassy in Mali makes no mention of a call for the evacuation of Russian nationals. Finally, on the evening of October 29, the Russian embassy published a denial on X , officially stating that the information [regarding an evacuation order] is false.

An account of dubious reliability

The reliability of the Nikolai Piotr Melnikov account appears questionable. “It’s the worst fake account I’ve seen in a long time,” said Brant Philipp, an open-source analyst and specialist in West African terrorism, on X.

Created in September 2024, the profile posted no messages until October 29, the date of the alleged Sputnik article's publication. This lack of prior posts suggests that the account was deliberately reactivated to publish disinformation against Mali.

Likely to throw people off the scent, Nikolai Pyotr Melnikov's account changed its profile picture sometime during the day on October 29. In the morning, the profile displayed a photo of a bearded man wearing glasses. A reverse image search (see here for instructions) reveals the original photograph in the Getty Images library . It is of Oleg Gordievsky, a KGB colonel who defected to the UK in the 1980s. The former spy died last March at the age of 86. Then, in the afternoon of October 29, Nikolai Pyotr Melnikov's account replaced this profile picture with an image of Vladimir Putin.

It is currently impossible to identify the author and sponsor of this fake news. It should be noted that Nikolai Piotr Melnikov's posts were shared by Gauthier Pasquet , a disinformation account that we investigated in 2022.

Although the Russian embassy has not issued an evacuation order, several embassies have, in the last 24 hours, advised their nationals to leave Mali: after the United States, Italy , Germany and Australia (through its Ministry of Foreign Affairs) have published their own recommendations in this regard.