Russia ‘indefinitely’ shelves plans for Sudan naval base

The Ukrainian defence-focused media outlet Militarnyi reports the “indefinite postponement” of plans to build a Russian military base on the Red Sea in Sudan, initially agreed on by ousted President Omar Al Bashir.

The establishment of a Russian military base in Sudan has been “indefinitely postponed” due to the ongoing war between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the ensuing political crisis, Militarnyi reported on Tuesday.

“Due to the dissolution of parliament, the Sudanese side has not yet been able to complete the necessary internal ratification procedures” the outlet said quoting Andrei Chernovol, the Russian ambassador to Sudan.

Plans to establish Russian military infrastructure on the shores of Suakin, 63km south of Port Sudan, date back to 2017, during a high-profile visit by Omar Al Bashir to Russia in November of that year.

Operations to construct the military base were scheduled to begin four years ago, when initial agreements were finalised in 2020. As per the agreement, Sudan was supposed to provide Russia with an area to deploy 300 Russian military personnel, four ships, and an “unlimited number” of ships in the region for a period of 25 years, in exchange for weapons.

“The future facility was supposed to be a logistics post for the Russian Navy, which would allow the placement of large ships and nuclear submarines”, Militarnyi reports.

Ratifying the agreement reportedly failed several times. In 2021, Sudanese Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Mohamed Abdallah announced the “impossibility of ratifying such an agreement”, according to the Ukrainian outlet. Despite initial hopes in early 2023, the signing of the treaty was indefinitely postponed when fighting broke out in April of that year.

Diplomatic relations

Since the removal of Al Bashir from power in 2019, the government of Sudan has maintained close ties with Russia. Sudan was one of 58 countries to abstain from voting in favour of a United Nations General Assembly resolution condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

In June last year, Malik Agar, the deputy chairperson of Sudan’s Sovereignty Council, visited Russia along with the undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other officials, to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

As reported by Dabanga on January 27, an ongoing investigation by the Darfur Bar Lawyers (DBA) is looking into the role of the Russian mercenary Wagner group in the current war in Sudan.

On January 30, Kyiv Post reported that Ukrainian Special Forces conducted three drone attacks targeting “Russian mercenaries” and their “local terrorist partners” in Sudan.