Report: Russian ships are pumping tanks, MRAPs and rocket launchers into Africa

VIENNA — Russian cargo ships have carried military equipment including tanks, armored vehicles and rocket launchers to African ports serving as gateways to Moscow’s forces on the continent, according to a new investigation that also identifies a possible additional supply route through the Republic of Congo. 

The data collected by C4ADS, a Washington-based organization that tracks illicit networks globally, spans the past three years and includes a sample of a dozen ships with operational ties to Russian military shipments. The analysts used open-source information including AIS ship transponder data, satellite imagery, on-the-ground pictures and local reporting to track the ships’ journeys between 2023 and 2026. 

The ports of Conakry, in Guinea; Tobruk, in Libya; and Lomé in Togo were particularly important for Russian logistics likely in support of Moscow’s Africa Corps troops. The Corps, which is under Russia’s Defense Ministry, grew out of the former Wagner Group, a paramilitary force that operated across Africa and beyond on behalf of the Kremlin’s great power politics. Mali, which C4ADS researchers suggest may have been the ultimate destination for many of the weapons shipped, is a particular Africa Corps hot spot. 

The analysts tracked five known military-affiliated transport ships going from Russian Baltic and Arctic ports to Conakry between December 2024 and March 2026, from where military convoys then continued inland to Mali. 

Among the ships calling at Conakry were the Adler and Siyanie Severa, which arrived in January 2025. “Within days, a convoy of roughly a hundred military vehicles, including Spartak mine-resistant ambush protected (MRAP) armored vehicles and T-72 heavy tanks, was filmed arriving in

Bamako,” the capital of Mali, C4ADS said in a write-up shared with Defense News ahead of the investigation’s publication. 

Similar voyages were observed by other ships at later dates, including the Baltic Leader and Patria, which arrived in Conakry in May of the same year, after which more MRAPs appeared in the region. The pair of ships was accompanied by a third, the Siyanie Severa, which continued past Conakry to Bata, Equatorial Guinea and Lagos, Nigeria.

An attendee holds a weapon as Russian military personnel stationed in Equatorial Guinea take part in demonstrations to mark the 80th anniversary of victory over Nazi Germany, in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea, on May 9, 2025. (AFP via Getty Images)

Some of the cargo ships to Africa are escorted by Russian navy ships for part or all of their voyages, such as the Sabetta, which arrived in Conakry in March 2026 after being escorted by a warship through the English Channel. C4ADS said the ship likely delivered military equipment, including Tigr infantry mobility vehicles, to Africa on that trip. 

In addition to known Russian arms shipment routes, the researchers specialized on illicit network detection said that the port of Pointe-Noire in the Republic of Congo may have emerged as a new logistics hub for Russia’s military operations in Africa. 

The American analysts identified three U.S.-sanctioned ships designed specifically for vehicle transport traveling from the Black Sea and St. Petersburg areas to Congo between 2023 and 2026, two of which also made voyages to West African ports that are more firmly known to be affiliated with Russian weapons shipments in the same timeframe. The researchers noted that more work was needed to conclusively determine the nature of shipments to Pointe-Noire. 

Meanwhile, Libya featured as a regular destination; Russia’s Africa Corps is reportedly heavily involved in the eastern half of the country, a region that is controlled by General Haftar’s Libyan National Army. 

“Like shipments to West Africa, deliveries to Libya follow a recurring pattern: departure from Baltiysk Naval Base in Kaliningrad, a naval escort indicating high-value cargo, and

frequent prolonged AIS signal gaps in the Mediterranean,” C4ADS said, calling out a tracking obfuscation technique that is also frequently used by Russia’s shadow fleet of tankers. 

With regard to Togo, analysts assessed that the country had become a significant waypoint for Russian supply routes into the Sahel following a 2025 military cooperation agreement signed between Moscow and Lomé. Ships docking at the port were assessed as delivering war materiel to Mali by way of Togo and Burkina Faso. 

The researchers said the cargo ship Mikhail Britnev likely carried military vehicles and equipment to Lomé in June and July 2026. Malian state television subsequently showed a convoy of 29 armored vehicles in Bamako that reporters said had traveled from Lomé.

Russian involvement in Africa is not new, dating back to the Soviet era and reinvigorated by the Wagner Group in the 2010s. The maritime routes complement an air logistics network previously investigated by Defense News, with Russian military-affiliated cargo aircraft operating through Algeria and onward to other African destinations.

C4ADS says that ten of the twelve vessels it tracked are U.S.-sanctioned, compared with six covered directly or through their owners by British sanctions and five by European Union sanctions.

The report, including an interactive map, will be released to the public on Nov. 10.