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Russia’s Shadow Airborne Fleet is Feeding Moscow’s Sahel Operations

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Photo of Vlad Litnarovych
Vlad Litnarovych
News Writer
Illustrative image. A Russian Air Force officer walks across the tarmac near a Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack bomber aircraft, operated by the Russian Air Force, at Waterkloof air base in Tshwane, Pretoria, South Africa, on October 23, 2019.
Illustrative image. A Russian Air Force officer walks near a Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack bomber aircraft, operated by the Russian Air Force, at Waterkloof air base in Tshwane, Pretoria, South Africa, on October 23, 2019. (Source: Getty Images)

Russian state-linked forces operating across Africa’s Central Sahel were supported by at least 75 military or military-connected flights between January 2025 and July 2026, according to a new analysis by the Center for Advanced Defense Studies, or C4ADS, published on August 12.

The findings offer a rare look at the aviation network sustaining Moscow’s expanding security footprint across Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger—one built around sanctioned Russian military aircraft, government-operated planes, private carriers, and a chain of staging points stretching through Syria, Libya, Algeria, and other regional hubs.

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C4ADS examined Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast, or ADS-B, data sourced from FlightRadar24 for aircraft types historically linked to Russia’s Defense Ministry or Russian private military contractors. Researchers then filtered the data for flights touching the three Central Sahel countries.

Burkina Faso recorded the heaviest activity, with 56 flights, followed by 38 involving Mali and six involving Niger.

C4ADS said Burkina Faso’s unusually high volume may partly reflect its position as a transit point between Mali and Niger. It also coincided with intense fighting involving Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin and Islamic State in the Greater Sahara, both of which have expanded operations across the region.

The busiest single operator identified was Flight Unit 224, an airline owned by Russia’s Defense Ministry and sanctioned by the US in May 2023.

Another 14 flights were attributed to Russia’s Special Flight Squadron, which normally transports senior government officials, while the Russian Ministry for Emergency Situations operated 12.

The latter is officially a civilian emergency-response agency, but previous reporting has linked its aircraft to the movement of military-related cargo to destinations including Mali, Syria, and Iran.

C4ADS also flagged several private airlines that remain outside US, EU, and UK sanctions despite documented links to Russian military logistics. Among them was Sapsan Airlines, a carrier registered in Kyrgyzstan.

The routes themselves show how Russia has built multiple ways of reaching the Sahel.

According to C4ADS, state-operated aircraft such as Flight Unit 224’s RA-82030 frequently used Russia’s Khmeimim air base in Syria as a refueling stop before continuing south. Russian flights also passed through Libyan sites including Al-Khadim.

Private carriers tended to rely more heavily on commercial hubs in the United Arab Emirates, Algeria, and Türkiye, giving Moscow a less conspicuous route for moving aircraft and cargo toward West Africa.

The result is not a single air bridge, but a dispersed logistics system that can shift between military bases and civilian airports depending on the operator and mission.

The C4ADS analysis also fits into a broader pattern of Russian military-linked aviation across North and West Africa.

A Defense News investigation published in April tracked more than 100 flights by Russian military-affiliated cargo aircraft to Algeria over the previous year. Flight-tracking data, interviews, and satellite imagery suggested those aircraft were being used both to deliver fighter jets to the Algerian air force and to support onward logistics routes deeper into the Sahel and West Africa.

That makes Algeria potentially important not only as a major Russian defense customer, but also as a logistical node connecting Moscow to its operations farther south.

C4ADS similarly noted a growing number of flights passing through Togo and Algeria before or after Sahel stops, saying those patterns deserve closer scrutiny.

The organization stressed that its figures are preliminary and should not be treated as a complete count of Russian military-linked aviation activity in the region.

Civilian ADS-B coverage is inconsistent across large parts of Africa, leaving gaps in publicly visible flight data. Military operators can also switch off, alter, or manipulate transponders, making destinations harder to trace.

Earlier, reports emerged that Russia has established Algeria as a key logistics hub for its covert air transport network, using civilian-registered cargo aircraft to move weapons, dual-use equipment, and support operations across Africa and beyond.

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