FRANCE 24’s François Picard is pleased to welcome Ulf Laessing, Director of Regional Sahel Programme at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. According to Mr. Laessing, we are witnessing in Mali the complete unraveling of a broader geopolitical experiment. Russia stepped into a vacuum left by France, promising stability through force. Instead, its reliance on mercenary brutality, coupled with a shallow understanding of local dynamics, has accelerated the demise of an-already fraught collaboration. The fall of Kidal and the coordinated surprise offensives reveal a dramatic shift in the balance of power.