Russia expands presence in Africa, to build port in Sudan

Russia has reached an agreement with Sudan to build a naval base on the Red Sea coast, BBC reports. The deal was signed on Feb. 12 during talks between the foreign ministers of both countries, with ratification of the document now pending.

“Sudan and Russia have reached an understanding on the agreement regarding the Russian naval base. The matter is very simple… We have agreed on everything,” said Sudanese Foreign Affairs Minister Ali Youssef after meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.

The news comes as Russia lost access to a key port in Syria in the wake of President Bashar al-Assad’s ousting in December. 

Russia first planned to establish a logistics support point for its naval fleet in Sudan in 2019 when the country was led by President Omar al-Bashir.

The agreement was eventually signed in Nov. 2020 after a military coup in Sudan. 

However, the new government stated that the document required further revisions. In 2023, civil war broke out in Sudan, further complicating the process, and the agreement had not yet been ratified.

Moscow has been working for years to establish a naval base near the city of Port Sudan in the northeast. The deal includes building a logistics center for Russian military ships, including nuclear-powered vessels, and stationing up to 300 military personnel for a period of 25 years.

Russia has heightened its focus on Port Sudan, concerned about the potential loss of military assets in Syria.

“This, in turn, could limit Moscow’s ability to influence strategically crucial regions – the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and the Red Sea,” Militarnyi media reports.

The Red Sea is a vital trade route and a key area of geopolitical competition. The U.S., China, and France already maintain a naval presence in the region.

In recent months, Russian officials have visited Port Sudan, which has effectively become Sudan’s capital amid turmoil and an ongoing civil war, and have worked to establish ties with both sides of the conflict.

In late January, reports emerged that Russia had likely begun evacuating its military equipment and assets to Russian ships docked in the Syrian port of Tartus. 

Meanwhile, Turkiye said that Russia’s presence along Syria’s coastline will need to be reassessed after Bashar al-Assad’s regime fell.