The administrator and author of the Telegram channel Gray Zone, the blogger Nikita Fedyanin died in Mali during a combat attack, Fedyanin's entourage told TASS.
"The administrator of the Gray Zone channel, whom everyone calls "White" today, was a good acquaintance of mine, maybe even a friend. He spent some time in the Central African Republic and then went to Mali to do a series of reports on the activities of the Malian army. Unfortunately, he is no longer among us”, said the interlocutor of the agency.
The blogger has always tried to be in the forefront, in the center of events. "He was both a brave, intelligent and creative young man. I know he wanted to go to the front line in Mali and start in August to sort and process the footage, many of which had been accumulated over the last year,” they noted.
On July 26, armed extremists attacked a patrol of government troops in the Tinzaouaten region (northeastern Mali, on the border with Algeria). According to the Malian authorities, 2 soldiers from the country's army were killed and another 10 were wounded. In turn, the security forces managed to eliminate about 20 terrorists and destroy their vehicles and equipment.
As reported in a communique issued by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Mali, units of the armed forces of the Republic are engaged in fierce battles with terrorist groups in the area of Tintzaouaten. The document notes that the area where the clashes are taking place “remains a bastion of concentration of terrorists and smugglers of all kinds”. The General Staff of the Armed Forces also urged the civilian population to leave the areas where terrorists are located to avoid casualties.
The armed conflict between the Malian authorities and extremist and separatist groups began in 2012. Since then, the country has been in a state of crisis, mainly in the areas of security and socio-economic development.