Russia Might Have a New Foreign Naval Base—In Sudan
Per the terms of the announced deal, Russia will establish its naval base near Port Sudan with a 25-year lease.
Russia’s lease on its naval facility at Tartus, Syria, was abruptly cut off last month, just weeks after the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government in the Middle Eastern nation. The new provisional government—which suffered heavily under the Kremlin’s bombing campaign in support of Assad throughout the Syrian Civil War—is unlikely to allow Russia to continue operating from the facility. Earlier this week, a Russian military convoy in the war-torn nation was even forbidden from entering the base.
As previously reported, the loss of the port at Tartus was seen as a major blow to Moscow’s ambitions in the region, and it would certainly hamper the Russian Navy’s ability to operate submarines and warships in the Mediterranean Sea. The Kremlin’s options remain limited. Algeria and Libya are potential locations, but each would present numerous challenges and may lack the stability the Russian Navy would like to see. Neither has so far materialized as a true possibility for a future naval base.
However, Russia has succeeded in closing a deal just outside the Mediterranean. On Wednesday, Russia and Sudan announced that they had signed a deal that would allow the Kremlin to establish a base on the Red Sea. It follows previous efforts that were never concluded.
“An agreement was discussed under former President Omar al-Bashir, but the military government that overthrew him had later said the matter was under review,” the BBC reported. The new agreement still needs to be ratified, but that could be a matter of procedure for the Sudanese government.
“Sudan and Russia have reached an understanding on the agreement regarding the Russian naval base,” Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ali Youssef said during a press briefing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. “The matter is very simple… We have agreed on everything.”
The U.S. and France both have naval bases in the region, as does China—with its only overseas facility located in the strategic Horn of Africa in Djibouti. Per the terms of the announced deal, Russia will establish its naval base near Port Sudan with a 25-year lease. It will reportedly include “a naval logistics hub, with warships including nuclear-powered vessels, and up to 300 personnel.”
Trading One War Zone For Another
Russia was driven out of its facility in Tartus, Syria, after the fall of the Moscow-back Assad’s government in December. Syria has been in a state of civil war since 2011, and even with a new government in Damascus, the potential for continued violence and instability remains.
Meanwhile, Sudan is now engaged in its own civil war, which began in 2023. In recent days, the Sudanese army-aligned faction, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, has made advances in the capital of Khartoum and has set a path for future elections. However, African Union officials have called Sudan the “worst humanitarian crisis” in Africa, and even if Burhan’s forces completely recapture the capital from the rival Rapid Support Forces, it is unlikely the war will end soon.
Russia could find itself simply trading an established navy base in a country divided by civil war for a new facility in a nation in very much the same situation. In any case, Moscow spent a considerable amount of money in recent years expanding the base at Tartus, and will now have to start over in Sudan from scratch.
Russia’s Reach to Africa
During the 19th century’s Scramble for Africa, which began in earnest at the Berlin Conference in 1885, Imperial Russia was a mere observer (like the United States, which also attended). The reasons at the time were simple: Russia was an expanding “empire” in Europe and Asia, but it really had no way to get to, and then defend, any potential colony in Africa.
Of the 14 countries that sent delegates to the Berlin Conference, Russia wasn’t alone in not getting a “place in the sun,” as Denmark, the Netherlands, and Sweden were also left essentially empty-handed.
Even though Russia wasn’t granted any territory in Africa, that didn’t stop a few ambitious Russians from attempting to establish a colony. The most “successful” of the colonies wasn’t all that far from the location of Russia’s future naval base. Cossack adventurer Nikolay Ivanovitch Ashinov looked to establish a “New Moscow” in 1889 at the coast town of Sagallo—in what is present-day Djibouti.
Ashinov arrived in Africa wearing a white pith helmet that was the fashion of colonizers of the day, along with 175 Russian settlers under the pretext of establishing a religious mission. The “New Moscow” colony was short-lived, however, as the French—who also claimed the region—responded by sending a cruiser and three gunboats, which bombarded the Sagallo. Six colonists were killed, and at least 20 more wounded. The survivors, including Ashinov, were promptly deported to Odessa.
“Although the attempt to colonise the Red Sea coast failed spectacularly, Russia’s desire to expand its empire into Africa did not disappear,” Al Jazeera noted.
With Ashinov’s failure, any dream of Russian expansion into Africa came to an end—at least until the Cold War, when the Soviet Union supported revolutionary movements and stirred up anti-Western proxy wars. Today, Russia tries to present itself as an “anti-colonial power,” yet its attempts to find a base in Sudan could be described as neo-colonialism of the 21st-century variety. It may not want to send settlers/colonists, but it is after the resources the continent offers and to expand its military reach.
The question is whether Moscow’s new adventure in Sudan will end any differently than Ashinov’s attempt in the late 1880s.
About the Author: Peter Suciu
Peter Suciu is a Michigan-based writer. He has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites with over 3,200 published pieces over a twenty-year career in journalism. He regularly writes about military hardware, firearms history, cybersecurity, politics, and international affairs. Peter is also a Contributing Writer for Forbes and Clearance Jobs. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. You can email the author: [email protected].
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