Russia Sends Sanctioned Arms Ship Loaded With BMP-3s to Prop Up Mali’s Junta

Russia delivered a large shipment of armored vehicles and other military equipment to Mali through the West African port of Lomé, Togo, using a cargo ship sanctioned by the United States, according to a BBC investigation published on August 2.

Footage broadcast by Mali’s state television channel ORTM1 on July 25 showed a large military convoy arriving in the capital, Bamako. The shipment included Russian-made BMP-3 infantry fighting vehicles, BTR-82A armored personnel carriers, Tigr armored vehicles, and Chinese-made VP11 armored vehicles.

BBC Verify linked the equipment seen in Bamako to the Russian cargo vessel Mikhail Britnev, which docked in Lomé on July 9. Satellite imagery reviewed by the outlet reportedly showed military vehicles aboard the ship matching those later displayed in Mali.

Ship-tracking data indicated that the Mikhail Britnev departed the Russian Baltic Fleet port of Baltiysk on June 18, crossed the North Sea, and entered the English Channel before continuing toward West Africa.

According to BBC Verify, a Russian Project 775 Ropucha-class landing ship escorted the cargo vessel through the English Channel. The United States sanctioned the Mikhail Britnev in 2024.

The BBC investigation also identified Baltiysk as a transit point used by several vessels suspected of transporting Russian military equipment to African countries.

The cargo ship Sabetta was tracked after loading what appeared to be military equipment at Baltiysk in February. It later docked in Conakry, Guinea, a port previously associated with Russian arms deliveries to regional partners in West Africa.

Another cargo vessel, which did not appear in publicly available ship-tracking data, was filmed loading military vehicles in Baltiysk on June 6, according to BBC Verify.

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The latest shipment comes as Russia increases military support for Mali’s ruling junta, which is facing pressure from armed groups operating across the country’s north.

Russia maintains a military presence in the country through its Africa Corps, which replaced the Wagner Group as Moscow’s main expeditionary force on the continent.

The shipment followed reports that Russian Africa Corps personnel withdrew from a joint convoy during an ambush near Tabrishat in northern Mali in early July. According to Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, at least 60 Malian soldiers were killed and another 30 captured after Russian forces retreated without providing ground or air support.

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