Mercenaries of the Russian volunteer brigade “Medvedi” (bears) leave the African state of Burkina Faso, writes the French newspaper Le Monde, pointing out that the reason for the departure of Russian mercenaries from Africa is their transportation in the Kursk region in relation to the invasion of the Ukrainian army that has been ongoing since August 6.

“This is a military group of about a hundred men, which had arrived in the capital of Burkina Faso, Ouagadougou, in May with the intention of taking over the protection of “certain important persons, among whom probably the head of the junta, Captain Ibrahim Traoré” , writes the French newspaper.

The departure of Medvedi from Burkina Faso was confirmed by the commander of the brigade Viktor Yermalagev under the pseudonym “Jedai”, with whom Le Monde journalists contacted via Telegram on August 22.

He declined to elaborate, but confirmed the number of 300 men initially deployed. “Some stay, of course. We have bases and assets, equipment and ammunition. We will not take everything back to Russia.”

According to various estimates, confirmed to AFP by a Western security source who spoke on condition of anonymity, about a hundred mercenaries from the Medvedi brigade have left Burkina Faso from a total detachment of 300 men.

In June, Jack Margolin, a Foreign Policy Research Institute (FPRI) expert on Russian mercenaries, described the “Bears” as an organization that is “under the control of the Department of Defense” and linked to a military unit that supplied the mercenary organization Wagner since 2014.

Earlier the pro-war Russian website “Tsargrad” wrote that “the 81st separate special purpose brigade Medvedi returns from Africa to Russia in Kursk to defend the Motherland.”

On August 27, a message appeared on Medvedi’s Telegram channel saying that “in connection with recent events” the brigade is returning to its base in annexed Crimea.