Russia emphasizes the need for the United Nations (UN) to strictly adhere to the established deadlines for the withdrawal of its mission in Mali, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the world body Dmitry Polyanskiy said on Monday.
"We stress the need for strict adherence to the deadlines set out in the document for the withdrawal of the main UN forces which must be completed by December 31 of this year," Polyanskiy said during a meeting of the UN Security Council.
The process of liquidating the infrastructure of the UN mission, more commonly known by its acronym MINUSMA, needs to be equally streamlined, Polyanskiy added.
On June 30, the UN Security Council unanimously voted to end MINUSMA and fully withdraw the mission by the end of 2023.
The decision came after the Malian government asked the United Nations to urgently withdraw MINUSMA from the country. The government said the UN mission's ten-year presence in Mali failed to adequately respond to the security situation there and contributed to the escalating tensions.
Earlier in August, MINUSMA announced that it would expedite its withdrawal from Mali due to the worsening security situation there.