Sudan's Foreign Minister Ali Yusuf Sharif on Wednesday told Russian media that the agreement, which first proposed to grant Russia a naval base on the Red Sea coast in 2017, will finally progress, and Moscow lost base in Syria Bashar Assad said he gave him the opportunity to replace the dictator's collapse.
Russia's only refueling port in the Mediterranean was itself base The Syrian city of Tartus, built by the Russians in 1977, was abandoned after the collapse of the Soviet Union and responded in 2015 when it intervened to support the Assad regime.
After invading Ukraine in 2022, the Tartus base became much more important to Russia. The Russians hoped that NATO would feel pressure along the southern flank, and after Turkey refused to pass through the territory, they arrived in the Black Sea as many ships were packed into the Mediterranean, participating in the Ukrainian campaign. Please.
Assad was suddenly It fell A whirlwind rebel attacks in early December. The new ruler of Syria is led by an al-Qaeda derivative called Hayat Taharil al-Sham (HTS), which hampers the Russian Assad patronage to help maintain Tartus naval facilities. It seemed to be happening. The rebel government was initially quite polite to the Russians, but satellite photos showed that Russian troops began to withdraw from Tartus.
Syrian Ministry of Defense controlled by rebels on Tuesday It's blocked A Russian fleet from entering Tartus. The Syrian army bottled a convoy of vehicles carrying more than 30 missiles at checkpoints for eight hours before ordering back to Kumeimim Air Base, Syria's only other operational facility.
Negotiations between Damascus and Moscow about the fate of the Russian base are probably ongoing, but Tuesday's incident suggested they weren't going badly. The Russians were probably trying to evacuate missiles from Syria for a relocation to Ukraine, so blocking the port and leaving weapons stuck in the centre of the country is a provocative move by the Syrian government is.
“Russia almost certainly continues to actively engage HTS, establish relationships and promote its position as a beneficial partner. However, Russia's negotiating position is likely to be protected by Russia now. It is weakened due to a variety of factors, including the hostile attitude of the Syrian leader towards former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad,” UK defence information assessed this week.
With these developments, Russia was undoubtedly interested in conclusion of a long account agreement with Sudan at bases on the Red Sea coast.
That's how the transaction was suggestion In 2017, during the long-standing reign of Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir, he negotiated in 2019 and signed it in 2020.
It appeared that the military government was actually trying to get Russia to build a base. This is a modest facility hosting up to four Russian warships at once under a 25-year lease, but the implementation of the contract was delayed to account for three years. It went to war on its own.
A terrifying civil war It exploded in 2023 between the leaders of General Abdel Fatta al-Burhan and General Mohamed “Hemeti” Dagaro. However, when Assad fell in Syria, Russian officials began to appear in Port Sudan. This has been the wartime capital of the Burhan government since the Dagalo militia captured Khartoum's domestic capital. The future location of the Russian base is not far from Port Sudan.
Russia has worked to maintain relations with both sides of the Sudan civil war, but the Sudan generals I said Last year, Russia will pay for the base by supplying munitions to Bahan's troops.
The Russians may have calculated that staying on Dagalo's friends list is no longer worth the effort. This is because the trends of the Civil War seem to be changing with the favor of Burhan. Sudanese army I insisted On Tuesday, most of Khartoum was recaptured from Dagallo's rapid support force (RSF), but RSF supply and morale are low.
The international community may also change decisively after the RSF It is reportedly They attacked refugee camps on Wednesday, sending gunmen with patches of units, destroying much of the facility to burn.
During his visit to Moscow on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Sharif said Burkhan officials concluded the port contract with the Russians, saying that both sides “all agreed.”
“The contract has been signed and there is no disagreement,” he emphasized. He emphasized without providing details on when Russian ports will be operated. He suggested that the Russian port may be significantly larger than the minimum facility expected in the original 2019 deal.
Royal United Services Institute Associate Fellow Samuel Ramani I said Another obstacle to building Russian ports in the Red Sea is death In August 2023, the boss of Russian mercenaries Yevgeny Prigozhin. Moscow officially supported the Burhan government, while Wagner Group Mercenaries in Prigozhin did business with RSF.
“Russia courted both Burhan and Hemeti, so we were able to get a basic agreement regardless of who won the civil war within Sudan's military. Those who moved the needle would support Burhan Looks like a violent pivot in Russia for it,” Ramani said. I said Financial Times (ft) Wednesday.
“Russian Red Sea bases in Sudan will ease logistical pressure on African troops, which currently rely on Libya for logistics that have lost Syrian bases,” Ramani points out. did.
Another possibility proposed by the European Council on Foreign Relations visiting Jonas Horner is that Sudan hopes to use the ghosts of Russian naval bases to narrow more support from the US and Europe.
Similarly, Syria was able to use Russian military bases as leverage to get Moscow to forgive the roughly $8 billion in debt acquired by Bashar Assad. The HTS government is not shy about demanding concessions from Russia and other Assad patrons, Iran.
Syrian Foreign Minister Assad al-Sabani at the summit held in Dubai on Wednesday I said His government has seen some “positive” signs from Moscow and Tehran, but both need to do more.
“The Syrian people suffer from the wounds and pain that they suffered at the hands of both of these countries. In order to restore the relationship, the Syrian people must feel satisfied with this relationship,” said Shivani. said.
