BAMAKO /Mali/, February 7. /TASS/. Mali won’t explain itself to anyone for choosing Russia as a partner for cooperation, the country’s Foreign Minister Abdoulaye Diop said following talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday.

"We’ve decided to bolster our partnership together with Russia and thus showed that we will not make excuses for the choice of partner that we’ve made," he said. The Malian top diplomat noted that this decision was made by the Malians "with full responsibility."

"And Mali will work with Russia just like with other partners who will stand for the key principles outlined by interim President [of Mali Assimi Goita]," he pointed out, stressing that Mali is acting taking into account, among other things, "the interests of the Malians themselves in all the decisions being made."