Sahel, France’s difficult war on jihadists. It is now a tug-of-war on Moscow mercenaries

The last French soldier was killed on Friday morning by a blast of Kalashnikovs in the Gossi region, near the border with Burkina Faso. His name was Maxime Blasco, he was 34 years old and he is the 52nd victim of the Paris war in Mali, which began in 2013 when the then president François Hollande sent combat helicopters to repel the Islamist offensive towards the capital Bamako.