THE UNITED NATIONS, September 25. /TASS/. Authorities in Mali asked a private Russian military company to help them fight against terrorists and Moscow is not linked to this, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told a press conference devoted to the outcome of his visit to New York for the 76th session of the UNGA.

"They turned to a private military company from Russia given that, as far as I understand, France wants to significantly reduce its military contingent, which was there and ought to combat terrorists, who holed up in the area called Kidal. Nothing came out of this, and terrorists are still running things there," Lavrov said

"Since Mali’s authorities estimated that their forces were not enough without external support and since external support is reducing from those who pledged to help eradicate terrorism, they turned to a private Russian military company," Lavrov stated.

Russia’s top diplomat emphasized that the private Russian military company is carrying out its activities in Mali on a legitimate basis because these are the relations between a legitimate government and those who offer respective services.

"We don’t have any connection to that," he noted.