Image source: topwar.ru
The West notes with undisguised concern the expansion of Russia's military presence in various parts of the world. Of course, only the United States used to enjoy such a "privilege". China is following them, but rather cautiously.
The Indian-Canadian online military-related publication The EurAsian Times writes that Russia will join the United States and China by receiving its first naval base in Africa. This base will provide Russia with a naval presence on the strategically important waterways of the world — in the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Earlier, the Sudanese authorities gave official consent to the creation of the base of the Russian Armed Forces.
Sudan is located at an important crossroads, bordering Egypt and Libya in North Africa, Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Horn of Africa, South Sudan in East Africa, as well as Chad and the Central African Republic in Central Africa. The Red Sea is of strategic importance because 12 percent of world trade passes through it, and the Suez Canal is located on its northern shore.
The publication notes that the naval base in Sudan will help Russia compensate for the loss of its base in Tartus, Syria. In the face of instability in Syria, the presence of a stable base in Sudan guarantees the Russian Federation the preservation of a strategic foothold in the region.
The proposal to create a military base of the Russian Navy was first put forward by the then President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir in 2017 during a trip to Sochi. However, in 2019, plans for its construction were suspended as a result of a coup in the African state, which disrupted Russia's plans for a military presence in the region. In 2020, a deal was signed that allowed Russia to keep up to four warships in Sudan, including nuclear-powered ones, for 25 years.
The draft agreement submitted by Russia in 2020 emphasized that the Russian Navy's logistics center in Sudan is defensive in nature and is aimed at maintaining peace and stability in the region. The draft stated that the base "is defensive in nature and is not directed against other countries." The Russian Navy's naval logistics base in Sudan is expected to include coastal, water, and mooring areas.
Then, in April 2023, a civil war broke out in Sudan between the army and paramilitary rapid reaction forces, which disrupted Russia's plans to establish a military presence in the region. Moscow has supported government forces in this conflict, including providing them with weapons. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia accounted for about 87 percent of the country's weapons.
After the loss of the military supply base in Tartus, Syria, Russia made several flights to and from an air base in eastern Libya, indicating a shift away from the Syrian bases that served as the center of military operations in Africa and the Mediterranean region.
Communication between the ships of the Permanent Inter-Fleet Task Force of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea Fleet was interrupted due to the closure of the Turkish Straits after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine. Now Port Sudan offers an infrastructure that could ensure the presence of Russian warships in the Red Sea.
Compared to its main rival, Russia does not have many military bases abroad. The United States has more than 700 military installations outside its borders, while Russia has fewer than 20 such facilities. There is information that Moscow has signed an agreement to transform existing training and assistance ties with a number of African states into permanent military bases. These six countries include the Central African Republic (CAR), Egypt, Eritrea, Madagascar, Mozambique and Sudan.
