The Russian Africa Corps has pulled out of Kidal - a strategic town in northern Mali that was a symbol of the Russian presence in Africa. The corps confirmed the withdrawal itself: units together with the Malian army left the area, evacuating the wounded and heavy weaponry. The official explanation is short: "The situation in Mali remains difficult."

Kidal is not an ordinary place. It was in the hands of Tuareg and Islamist separatists for years, and the Russian forces - replacements for the French military contingent that had also left - were part of the Malian government's attempt to take back control. If even the Russians can't hold Kidal, it says something about the nature of a conflict that can't be solved by the presence of foreign infantry, no matter how well trained.

For Moscow, this is more than a military setback. Africa was part of the project of expanding the Russian sphere of influence in an era when the West is taking flak for neocolonialism. Wagner, now renamed and restructured into the Africa Corps, was Russia's tool to fill the vacuum. Mali, Burkina Faso, CAR - all tied to the same concept. If Kidal falls back into the hands of armed groups, that concept will be put under serious question.

Is this the end of Russia's plans in Africa? Probably not - Moscow has deep investments in the continent. But the withdrawal from Kidal is a signal that global expansion has its limits, even for Russia. Every power that walked into Mali intending to solve what the French couldn't has hit the same wall.