Russia Uses Sanctioned Cargo Ship Escorted By Naval Landing Ship To Deliver Armored Vehicles To Mali

Russia has delivered a shipment of military vehicles to Mali using the sanctioned cargo vessel Mikhail Britnev, which transported the equipment through the port of Lomé in Togo, according to an investigation by the BBC.

Malian state television footage aired on July 25 showed a large convoy of armored vehicles arriving in Bamako, the capital of Mali.

The vehicles included Russian-made BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, Tigr armored vehicles and Chinese-made VP11 armored vehicles.

The shipment was transported by the Mikhail Britnev, a cargo vessel under U.S. sanctions. Ship-tracking data showed that the vessel left the Russian port of Baltiysk on June 18 and arrived at Lomé, Togo, on July 9. The cargo was later moved from Togo to Mali by road.

BBC Verify said satellite imagery of the vessel showed military vehicles aboard the Mikhail Britnev that matched those later seen in Bamako. The ship was carrying trucks, armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles.

The vessel sailed from Baltiysk through the North Sea before entering the English Channel. According to BBC Verify, a Russian Project 775 Ropucha-class landing ship escorted the cargo ship through the English Channel during its voyage.

The UK Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the vessel’s passage.

The BBC investigation also found that Baltiysk has been used as a transit point for other vessels suspected of carrying Russian military equipment to West Africa.

One such vessel, the cargo ship Sabetta, was tracked after loading what appeared to be military equipment at Baltiysk in February. It later docked at Conakry in Guinea, a port previously linked to Russian arms deliveries in the region.

BBC Verify also reported that another cargo vessel, which was not visible in publicly available ship-tracking data, was filmed loading military vehicles at Baltiysk on June 6.

Russia continues military support for Mali’s ruling junta through its Africa Corps, which replaced the Wagner Group as Moscow’s main military presence on the continent.

Mali has been under military rule since coups in 2020 and 2021. The government has relied on Russian personnel and equipment while fighting armed groups operating in the country’s north.

The shipment follows recent battlefield setbacks involving Malian forces and Russian personnel. The Al-Qaeda-linked group Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and the Front de Libération de l’Azawad (FLA), a coalition of Tuareg separatists, have carried out attacks in northern Mali.

In late April, the groups captured the northern town of Kidal near the Algerian border, killing Mali’s defence minister and forcing Russian forces to retreat, according to reports cited by the BBC.

The fighting continued into July, with JNIM and FLA launching attacks in several regions, including an assault on a military camp in Anefis, located around 100 km from Kidal.

Tuareg separatists claimed they had ambushed reinforcement convoys involving Malian soldiers and Russian mercenaries.

References: kyivpost, newsukraine