For the European Union, this is an uncomfortable signal: the 2022 sanctions did not end Russian arms exports to Africa, but shifted them into less visible logistics channels. Their central hub is a country on the southern Mediterranean coast that the EU does not formally sanction.
What Defense News mapped
A Defense News team led by reporter Linus Höller manually reconstructed the routes of roughly a dozen airlines civilly registered in Russia that in fact perform military or state functions. The aircraft regularly took off from airports linked to United Aircraft Corporation, Russia's state fighter jet manufacturer, and headed to the Algerian military bases of Oum El Bouaghi, Ain Oussera, Annaba, Laghouat and Béchar. Defense News ↗Many aircraft switched off their ADS-B transponders during flight or listed false destination airports in their flight plans. "It's a well-known technique that pilots use deliberately," an anonymous source from the air transport industry confirmed to Defense News. Margaux Garcia, an analyst at the Washington-based organization C4ADS, told Defense News that a "fairly logical explanation" is that some of the flights are related to deliveries of a new generation of weapons. Defense News ↗
Fighter jets via Mineralnye Vody
According to the collected data, aircraft heading to Algeria repeatedly landed at Russian manufacturing plants — in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where Su-57 and Su-35 fighter jets are produced, in Irkutsk, which is completing the Su-30, and at the Yeltsovka plant in Novosibirsk, where Su-34 frontline bombers are built. About two-thirds of the flights, before heading to Africa, landed at an intermediate stop in the civilian airport of Mineralnye Vody in the northern Caucasus, which shortens the distance to the destination. Defense News ↗Between 2018 and 2022, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Algeria imported 73 percent of its weapons from Russia, and Moscow remains its main supplier despite a slight decline. It is currently receiving fifth-generation Su-57s and additional Su-35s, alongside the roughly sixty Su-30s and forty MiG-29s already in operation. Defense News ↗
Transit gateway to the Sahel
The investigation shows that Algeria is not merely a final destination. Between July and September 2025, according to Defense News findings, a pair of Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft belonging to Gelix Airlines (RA-76373 and RA-76360) carried out eight round-trip flights between Russia and Conakry, Guinea — always with a stopover in Algiers. The investigation further recalls a January report by the French daily Le Monde, according to which two sanctioned Russian cargo ships unloaded more than two thousand tons of military material in Conakry, including light tanks and armored vehicles — the convoy subsequently headed to Mali. Defense News ↗The second branch of the network involves Niger. A giant Antonov An-124 transporter belonging to Volga-Dnepr, registration number RA-82079, carried out at least eight flights between Algiers and Niamey, Niger, starting April 21, 2026, with satellite imagery confirming its presence at the local airport. The outlet also cites a December investigation by the Italian daily Il Foglio, which described an air bridge for transferring Nigerien uranium to Russia — with Il Foglio identifying the state-owned Rosatom as the end recipient. Defense News ↗
Also read: Mali, third day of the offensive: Kidal has fallen, Africa Corps retreated, Goïta nowhere to be seen
Return routes via the Emirates
Some flights continued from Algeria to the other side of the Atlantic as well — to Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil or Cuba. On the return route, however, the United Arab Emirates repeatedly appeared, which Western governments have long identified as a key hub for circumventing sanctions. The main workhorse of the entire operation remains the Ilyushin Il-76 — a Soviet transport aircraft with a range of about five thousand kilometers, which without a stopover is only sufficient for part of the routes. Defense News ↗What this means for the EU and NATO
For NATO's southern flank, this is an uncomfortable reminder. France was pushed out of the Sahel following a series of military coups in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger between 2020 and 2023, where Moscow is systematically occupying the vacated space of power through mercenaries and economic agreements. Niger covers a significant portion of Europe's uranium imports, and control over supplies is the subject of a long-running dispute between Paris and the Nigerien junta. Pressure on migration routes through Niger and Libya to the Mediterranean could further increase amid a deteriorating security situation.Over the past week, the Africa Corps has faced visible defeats. Tuareg rebels in Mali took control of the city of Kidal, and Malian Defense Minister Sadio Camara was killed in an assassination in Kati. On the front line, then, the Africa Corps is losing positions according to the latest developments. However, Defense News shows that Russia's logistical infrastructure remains active and extensive. That is why 167 flights in a single year carry the value of a signal, not just a statistic.
What hotinfo is following
- Further instalments of the Defense News "Shadow Airlines" series are published
- An increase or decline in the frequency of flights between Algiers and Niamey (watch RA-82079 and other An-124s)
- A public response from Brussels, Paris or French diplomacy to Algeria's role in the Russian logistics network
- A worsening or escalation of relations between Algiers and Rabat in the context of Western Sahara
- Algeria's defence ministry or the presidency responds to the investigation
- Russia's Africa Corps moved in Niger from logistics to combat support for the junta — on August 29, 2026 it helped General Tiani retake a military base after an attempted coup (Spiegel, ANSA, Le Monde, France24). Watch whether this was one-off assistance or a standing combat presence.
