Russia creates military bases in six African countries, Germany said

By TOC On Aug 3, 2020

BERLIN, (BM) – Russia “on a contractual basis guaranteed for itself” the right to establish military bases in six African states – the Central African Republic, Egypt, Eritrea, Madagascar, Mozambique and Sudan, according to a confidential document from the German Foreign Ministry, which was at the disposal of the media, learned BulgarianMilitary.com.

An important aspect of Russia’s advancement in Africa is military cooperation with regimes, some of which are dictatorial. According to the Foreign Ministry, “since 2015, Russia has concluded military cooperation agreements with 21 countries,” writes Bild, citing a confidential document from the German Foreign Ministry, which notes that before “there were only four such countries on the entire continent.”

The document also notes that “the Kremlin” on a contractual basis guaranteed for itself “the right to establish military bases in six states. These are the Central African Republic, Egypt, Eritrea, Madagascar, Mozambique and Sudan,” writes InoPressa.

In addition, the Russian army is partly secret, partly officially engaged in training the soldiers of the respective countries. So, in the Central African Republic there are 180 Russian army instructors. Another part of the document says: “About 20 Malian soldiers are trained annually in Russia.”

At the same time, in many countries, it is not only the official army of Russia that is involved and participates in preparation for long-term deployment. First of all, the stake is placed on private armies, for example, the Wagner Group, – the newspaper notes.

The document also notes that “with a market share of 37.6%, Russia is the most important supplier of weapons for the African continent.” It is followed by the US (16%), France (14%) and China (9%).

Analysts of the German government came to the conclusion that Russia can give Africa “security guarantees against the” color revolutions, and “states that are benevolent to Russia can help Russia to strengthen its role, for example, in the UN, receiving support for its policies from Africa”.

Last year, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia would try to transform relations with African countries at the political level into specific economic projects.

He also stated that the memorandum between the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and the African Union Commission will set guidelines that will allow the implementation of significant joint projects and initiatives in various fields.

Russian military base in Libya? May be!

The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Government of National Accord (GNA) of Libya, Fathi Bashag, told Bloomberg on June 9 that Russia has plans to create two military bases in the country.

We are talking about the base, located east of the port city of Sirte, and the military airfield al-Jufra, located 600 kilometers south-east of Tripoli.

“We must interfere with Russia’s plans to establish bases in Sirte and Jufra,” said Bashaga.

And not just in Africa …

BulgarianMilitary.com reported on April this year that in the Syrian province of Raqqa, a Russian helicopter base may soon appear, which will be shared by the Russian Aerospace Forces and the Syrian Air Force.

Representatives of the Syrian army and the Russian military recently visited the area south of the city of Madan (50 km southeast of the administrative center of the province of Raqqa) and inspected the future location of the new base.

This was reported by the Syrian publication Step News, citing a source in the National Defense Forces (pro-government militia) of the Arab Republic.

The construction of landing and parking helipads in the area is designed to ensure uninterrupted supplies of military and logistics equipment to the areas controlled by the Syrian army by air.

In addition, the helicopter base will help provide more dense air support to the government forces operating in the region, the Military Observer portal notes today, April 17.

Madan was taken by the Syrian army in September 2017 with the direct support of Russian aviation. Recently, the area south of Madan (especially Jebel Beshiri and further south) has become dangerous for movement due to the activation of the remnants of the militants of the Daesh terrorist group.

As BulgarianMilitary.com reported, last fall, Russia occupied several bases and strongholds of the US Armed Forces in northeastern Syria, which the US military hastily left after Turkey launched Operation Source of Peace.

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