The Kremlin has offered weapons to Sudan in exchange for a naval logistics base on the Red Sea, a Sudanese general has said.
Gen Yasser al-Atta, the deputy commander of the Sudanese Armed Forces, said that Russia will provide “vital weapons and munitions” for a harbour that is “not exactly a military base”.
“With Russia, we proposed military cooperation, or they proposed military cooperation to us in exchange for an urgent supply and ammunition point,” he told the Saudi-linked al-Hadath TV channel on Saturday in a translated clip uploaded to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Gen Atta is a senior member of the Sovereign Council, a military junta that has ruled Sudan sporadically since 2019 and is fighting a civil war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces. The war started in 2023 and analysts have said that it may have already killed 150,000 people.
Iran sends drones
Iran, an ally of Russia, has already backed the Sovereign Council by sending drones but Russia’s allegiances had been unclear. The Kremlin has previously hosted the leader of the Rapid Support Forces and its Wagner mercenaries have been spotted advising his forces.
But in April, Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia’s deputy foreign minister, visited Sudan and said that links would be strengthened. Reuters has also reported that trade data showed Russian diesel supplies being sent to Sudan.
Rybar, a Russian military blog on the Telegram social messaging app that is considered to be close to the Kremlin, said that a Sudanese delegation would travel to Moscow soon to sign a “comprehensive economic” deal.
Russia has long coveted a Red Sea outpost for its navy and had signed a deal to open one with Omar al-Bashir, the former dictator of Sudan. He was overthrown in a popular uprising in 2019 and the base was never opened.
Russia views Africa as a weak spot for the West that it has tried to exploit.
Its Wagner mercenaries have operated across Africa for nearly a decade and increased operations there after being banished from Ukraine following a failed mutiny last year.
Analysts have linked Russia to a series of coups across sub-Saharan Africa.
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