VIENNA — Russian cargo ships have carried navy gear together with tanks, armored autos and rocket launchers to African ports serving as gateways to Moscow’s forces on the continent, in accordance with a brand new investigation that additionally identifies a attainable further provide route by means of the Republic of Congo.
The info collected by C4ADS, a Washington-based group that tracks illicit networks globally, spans the previous three years and features a pattern of a dozen ships with operational ties to Russian navy shipments. The analysts used open-source info together with AIS ship transponder information, satellite tv for pc imagery, on-the-ground photos and native reporting to trace the ships’ journeys between 2023 and 2026.
The ports of Conakry, in Guinea; Tobruk, in Libya; and Lomé in Togo had been notably vital for Russian logistics seemingly in assist of Moscow’s Africa Corps troops. The Corps, which is below Russia’s Protection Ministry, grew out of the previous Wagner Group, a paramilitary power that operated throughout Africa and past on behalf of the Kremlin’s nice energy politics. Mali, which C4ADS researchers recommend could have been the last word vacation spot for lots of the weapons shipped, is a specific Africa Corps sizzling spot.
The analysts tracked 5 identified military-affiliated transport ships going from Russian Baltic and Arctic ports to Conakry between December 2024 and March 2026, from the place navy convoys then continued inland to Mali.
Among the many ships calling at Conakry had been the Adler and Siyanie Severa, which arrived in January 2025. “Inside days, a convoy of roughly 100 navy autos, together with Spartak mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored autos and T-72 heavy tanks, was filmed arriving in
Bamako,” the capital of Mali, C4ADS mentioned in a write-up shared with Protection Information forward of the investigation’s publication.
Comparable voyages had been noticed by different ships at later dates, together with the Baltic Chief and Patria, which arrived in Conakry in Might of the identical yr, after which extra MRAPs appeared within the area. The pair of ships was accompanied by a 3rd, the Siyanie Severa, which continued previous Conakry to Bata, Equatorial Guinea and Lagos, Nigeria.
Among the cargo ships to Africa are escorted by Russian navy ships for half or all of their voyages, such because the Sabetta, which arrived in Conakry in March 2026 after being escorted by a warship by means of the English Channel. C4ADS mentioned the ship seemingly delivered navy gear, together with Tigr infantry mobility autos, to Africa on that journey.
Along with identified Russian arms cargo routes, the researchers specialised on illicit community detection mentioned that the port of Pointe-Noire within the Republic of Congo could have emerged as a brand new logistics hub for Russia’s navy operations in Africa.
The American analysts recognized three U.S.-sanctioned ships designed particularly for automobile transport touring from the Black Sea and St. Petersburg areas to Congo between 2023 and 2026, two of which additionally made voyages to West African ports which can be extra firmly identified to be affiliated with Russian weapons shipments in the identical timeframe. The researchers famous that extra work was wanted to conclusively decide the character of shipments to Pointe-Noire.
In the meantime, Libya featured as an everyday vacation spot; Russia’s Africa Corps is reportedly closely concerned within the japanese half of the nation, a area that’s managed by Basic Haftar’s Libyan Nationwide Military.
“Like shipments to West Africa, deliveries to Libya comply with a recurring sample: departure from Baltiysk Naval Base in Kaliningrad, a naval escort indicating high-value cargo, and
frequent extended AIS sign gaps within the Mediterranean,” C4ADS mentioned, calling out a monitoring obfuscation approach that can be incessantly utilized by Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers.
With regard to Togo, analysts assessed that the nation had change into a major waypoint for Russian provide routes into the Sahel following a 2025 navy cooperation settlement signed between Moscow and Lomé. Ships docking on the port had been assessed as delivering battle materiel to Mali by the use of Togo and Burkina Faso.
The researchers mentioned the cargo ship Mikhail Britnev seemingly carried navy autos and gear to Lomé in June and July 2026. Malian state tv subsequently confirmed a convoy of 29 armored autos in Bamako that reporters mentioned had traveled from Lomé.
Russian involvement in Africa is just not new, relationship again to the Soviet period and reinvigorated by the Wagner Group within the 2010s. The maritime routes complement an air logistics community beforehand investigated by Protection Information, with Russian military-affiliated cargo plane working by means of Algeria and onward to different African locations.
C4ADS says that ten of the twelve vessels it tracked are U.S.-sanctioned, in contrast with six coated straight or by means of their homeowners by British sanctions and 5 by European Union sanctions.
The report, together with an interactive map, shall be launched to the general public on Nov. 10.
