Lomé port challenges sanctions and receives Russian armored vehicles to bolster Mali’s military junta
Russia has intensified its military deployments in the Sahel by delivering a major batch of heavy weaponry to Mali’s military junta. The operation, which involved a cargo ship subject to U.S. sanctions and the escort of a warship from the Baltic Fleet, shows Moscow’s determination to consolidate its influence in West Africa through the African Corps, the structure that replaced the Wagner Group, reports United24.
Based on an investigation by BBC Verify using satellite imagery and maritime tracking data, the Russian cargo ship Mikhail Britnev set sail on June 18 from the military port of Baltiysk. The vessel crossed the North Sea and the English Channel under the custody of a Russian landing ship of the Project 775 Ropucha class, before docking on July 9 at the port of Lomé in Togo. From there, the military material was transported overland to Mali’s capital.
Images aired by Mali’s state television, ORTM1, confirmed the arrival in Bamako of a sizeable convoy made up of next-generation infantry fighting vehicles BMP-3, BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, Tigr tactical vehicles, and VP11 armored units manufactured in China. The match between the vehicles observed on deck in satellite photos and those displayed in Bamako confirmed the route of the vessel that was sanctioned in 2024 by U.S. authorities.
The use of Baltiysk as a key hub for arms trafficking to the African continent is not an isolated case. Maritime records indicate that other cargo ships, such as Sabetta, have used the same facilities in the Baltic enclave to transport military supplies to strategic ports in the region, including Conakry in Guinea, reinforcing an opaque logistics route outside international trade circuits.
The large-scale shipment of arms comes at a time of maximum tension for Mali’s military regime, squeezed by pressure from armed militias in the north of the country. The arrival of the armored vehicles is also intended to restore confidence after severe losses suffered in early July near Tabrishat, where an ambush resulted in dozens of casualties among Mali’s forces after Russian forces of the African Corps withdrew from the combat area without providing ground or air support.
The entry Lomé port challenges sanctions and receives Russian armored vehicles to bolster Mali’s military junta was first published on canarymaritime.com.
