With the previously mentioned Russian Equipment came Russian troops to train the Malians to use that equipment. And maybe do more. It is unknown how are there and what other tasks they have. French withdraw from Timbuktu and the Russians deployed there. Well there ain't many places this stuff can be done. I checked couple others sites, it seems like AlJazeera they work from Reuters.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/7/russian-troops-deploy-to-malis-timbuktu-after-french-exit