Russian Navy Day 2023<\/p>\n
A plan for Russia to establish its first naval base in Africa<\/a> will go ahead, Sudan\u2019s foreign minister has confirmed, after years of delays over the Red Sea military port.<\/p>\n If the agreement is implemented, Russia<\/a> would join the US and China in the region; they have bases to the south in Djibouti.<\/p>\n The announcement came during a visit by the foreign minister, Ali Youssef Ahmed al-Sharif, to Moscow where he met his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov. After their meeting, Sharif said the two countries were in \u201ccomplete agreement\u201d on establishing a Russian base \u201cand there are no obstacles\u201d.<\/p>\n The Red Sea is one of the world\u2019s most strategically important waterways, connecting the Suez Canal to the Indian Ocean. About 12% of global trade passes through it.<\/p>\n Sudan first floated the idea of allowing Russia to have a naval facility on its coast in 2017 during a trip to Sochi by Omar al-Bashir, the then president, who was ousted in a 2019 coup. A deal was eventually signed in 2020 that reportedly permitted Russia to keep up to four navy ships, including nuclear-powered ones, in Sudan<\/a> for a period of 25 years.<\/p>\n At the time, a draft agreement said<\/a> the bases were for logistical purposes and were \u201cdefensive and not aimed against other countries\u201d.<\/p>\n After the meeting with Lavrov, Sharif said a new deal was not required as \u201cthere was a deal signed [in 2020] and there is no disagreement\u201d, adding that it only had to be ratified by both sides.<\/p>\n Sudan\u2019s military and civilian leaders dragged their feet on moving ahead with the deal due to lingering differences over its terms. The civil war that started in April 2023 between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces further complicated relations between Russia and Sudan, as the Russian-backed Wagner group threw its weight behind the RSF while the Kremlin appeared to back the Sudanese army.<\/p>\n \u201cRussia was playing both sides,\u201d said Samuel Ramani, an associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute thinktank and the author of a book on Moscow\u2019s engagements with Africa. Since the death<\/a> of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the Wagner mercenary group\u2019s leader, the Kremlin had \u201cincrementally\u201d deepened ties with the Sudanese army, Ramani added.<\/p>\n Last April, Russia\u2019s deputy foreign minister, Mikhail Bogdanov, visited Sudan and pledged \u201cuncapped\u201d support for its army. Russia has also backed Sudan at the UN security council, where it vetoed a resolution calling for a ceasefire for humanitarian reasons, a move the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, called<\/a> a disgrace.<\/p>\n Sudan\u2019s army has won a string of battles against the RSF in recent months and is increasingly confident<\/a> of a decisive victory over the paramilitary group, whose leaders the US has accused of genocide. In January the US imposed sanctions on Sudan\u2019s army leader, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, for \u201cchoosing war over good-faith negotiation\u201d.<\/p>\n Aid organisations have said Sudan is the scene of the world\u2019s worst humanitarian crisis, with the largest internally displaced population and fears that famine<\/a> has broken out in parts of the country.<\/p>\n The announcement comes weeks after Moscow\u2019s ally in the Middle East, Bashar al-Assad, was overthrown in an armed rebellion in Syria, casting doubt on the future of Russia\u2019s Tartus naval base in the eastern Mediterranean.<\/p>\n