Russia skirts Western sanctions to ramp up its military footprint in
Africa
[June 10, 2025]
By MONIKA PRONCZUK, JOHN LEICESTER and MICHAEL BIESECKER
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Even as it pounds Ukraine, Russia is expanding its
military footprint in Africa, delivering sophisticated weaponry to
sub-Saharan conflict zones where a Kremlin-controlled armed force is on
the rise. Skirting sanctions imposed by Western nations, Moscow is using
cargo ships to send tanks, armored vehicles, artillery and other
high-value equipment to West Africa, The Associated Press has found.
Relying on satellite imagery and radio signals, AP tracked a convoy of
Russian-flagged cargo ships as they made a nearly one-month journey from
the Baltic Sea. The ships carried howitzers, radio jamming equipment and
other military hardware, according to military officials in Europe who
closely monitored them. The deliveries could strengthen Russia’s
fledgling Africa Corps as Moscow competes with the United States, Europe
and China for greater influence across the continent.
The two-year-old Africa Corps, which has links to a covert branch of
Russia’s army, is ascendant at a time when U.S. and European troops have
been withdrawing from the region, forced out by sub-Saharan nations
turning to Russia for security.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have been battling fighters linked with
al-Qaida and the Islamic State group for more than a decade.
At first, mercenary groups with an arms-length relationship to the
Kremlin entered the fray in Africa. But increasingly, Russia is
deploying its military might, and intelligence services, more directly.
”We intend to expand our cooperation with African countries in all
spheres, with an emphasis on economic cooperation and investments,”
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “This cooperation includes
sensitive areas linked to defense and security.”
From the ports, Russian weapons are trucked to Mali
Russia's 8,800-ton Baltic Leader and 5,800-ton Patria are among hundreds
of ships that Western nations have sanctioned to choke off resources for
Russia's war in Ukraine. The ships docked and unloaded in Conakry,
Guinea, in late May, AP satellite images showed.
Other ships made deliveries to the same port in January. They delivered
tanks, armored vehicles and other hardware that was then trucked
overland to neighboring Mali, according to European military officials
and a Malian blogger's video of the long convoy.
The military officials spoke to AP about Russian operations on condition
of anonymity. The AP verified the blogger's video, geolocating it to the
RN5 highway leading into Bamako, the Malian capital.
After the latest delivery in Conakry, trucks carrying Russian-made
armored vehicles, howitzers and other equipment were again spotted on
the overland route to Mali.
Malian broadcaster ORTM confirmed that the West African nation's army
took delivery of new military equipment. AP analysis of its video and
images filmed by the Malian blogger in the same spot as the January
delivery identified a broad array of Russian-made hardware, including
152 mm artillery guns and other smaller canons.
AP also identified a wheeled, BTR-80 armored troop carrier with
radio-jamming equipment, as well as Spartak armored vehicles and other
armored carriers, some mounted with guns. The shipment also included at
least two semi-inflatable small boats, one with a Russian flag painted
on its hull, as well as tanker trucks, some marked “inflammable” in
Russian on their sides.
The military officials who spoke to AP said they believe Russia has
earmarked the most potent equipment — notably the artillery and jamming
equipment — for its Africa Corps, not Malian armed forces. Africa Corps
appears to have been given air power, too, with satellites spotting at
least one Su-24 fighter-bomber at a Bamako air base in recent months.
Moscow's notorious secret unit
For years, French forces supported counterinsurgency operations in Mali
and neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger. But France pulled out its troops
after coups in Mali in 2020 and 2021, in Burkina Faso in 2022 and Niger
in 2023. Russian mercenaries stepped into the vacuum.
Wagner Group, the most notable, deployed to Sudan in 2017 and expanded
to other African countries, often in exchange for mining concessions.
It earned a reputation for brutality, accused by Western countries and
U.N. experts of human rights abuses, including in Central African
Republic, Libya and Mali.
Of 33 African countries in which Russian military contractors were
active, the majority were Wagner-controlled, according to U.S.
government-sponsored research by RAND.
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This satellite image provided by Maxar Technologies shows a
Russian-made Su-24 fighter-bomber on April 14, 2025, at an airbase
in the Malian capital, Bamako. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
But after Wagner forces mutinied in Russia in 2023 and their leader,
Yevgeny Prigozhin, was killed two months later in a suspicious plane
crash, Moscow tightened its grip. Russian military operations in
Africa were restructured, with the Kremlin taking greater control
through Africa Corps.
It is overseen by the commander of Unit 29155, one of the most
notorious branches of Russia’s shadowy GRU military intelligence
service, according to the European Union. Unit 29155 has been
accused of covertly attacking Western interests for years, including
through sabotage and assassination attempts.
The EU in December targeted Unit 29155 Maj. Gen. Andrey Averyanov
with sanctions, alleging that he is in charge of Africa Corps
operations.
“In many African countries, Russian forces provide security to
military juntas that have overthrown legitimate democratic
governments, gravely worsening the stability, security and democracy
of the countries,” the EU sanctions ruling said. These operations
are financed by exploiting the continent's natural resources, the
ruling added.
The Russian Ministry of Defense didn’t immediately respond to
questions about Averyanov’s role in Africa Corps.
Africa Corps recruitment
Researchers and military officials say the flow of weapons from
Russia appears to be speeding Africa Corps’ ascendancy over Wagner,
helping it win over mercenaries that have remained loyal to the
group. Africa Corps is also is recruiting in Russia, offering
payments of up to 2.1 million rubles ($26,500), and even plots of
land, for signing a contract with the Ministry of Defense, plus more
on deployment.
Within days of the latest equipment delivery, Wagner announced its
withdrawal from Mali, declaring “mission accomplished" in a Telegram
post.
Africa Corps said in a separate post that it would remain.
The changeover from Wagner to Africa Corps in Mali could be a
forerunner for other similar transitions elsewhere on the continent,
said Julia Stanyard, a researcher of Russian mercenary activity in
Africa.
“Bringing in this sort of brand-new sophisticated weaponry, and new
armored vehicles and that sort of thing, is quite a bit of a shift,”
said Stanyard, of the Switzerland-based Global Initiative Against
Transnational Organized Crime.
Armed groups in Mali have inflicted heavy losses on Malian troops
and Russian mercenaries. The al-Qaida linked group JNIM killed
dozens of soldiers in an attack this month on a military base.
Insurgents also killed dozens of Wagner mercenaries in northern Mali
last July.
Some of the latest hardware could have been shipped over
specifically in response to such attacks, military officials said.
They said the jamming equipment, for example, could help defend
against booby traps detonated using phone signals.
Russian escort's red flags
The latest convoy attracted attention because a Russian Navy
warship, the Boykiy, escorted the ships after they set off in April
from Russia’s Kaliningrad region on the Baltic.
Last October, in what's considered a hostile act, the Boykiy's radar
systems locked onto a French Navy maritime surveillance plane on
patrol against suspected Russian efforts to sabotage underwater
cables, according to military officials.
The convoy included a third sanctioned Russian cargo ship, the
Siyanie Severa. It continued onward as Baltic Leader and Patria
unloaded in Conakry, docking in Bata, Equatorial Guinea.
Satellite imagery from May 29 shows trucks lined up on the dock as
the ship unloaded. The AP could not verify whether the cargo
included weapons or the ultimate destination for the shipment,
though Wagner has maintained a strong presence in the nearby Central
African Republic.
___
Leicester reported from Paris and Biesecker from Washington.
Beatrice Dupuy and Rachel Leathe in New York contributed.
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