Russia’s Powerplay in Sudan Continues

The war that erupted in April 2023 between the Sudanese National Army and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) militia also became a battleground for global powers; Russia adopted a playing-all-sides strategy to protect its interests in the country. Recently, the US has started to pay attention to this growing Russian influence. Now two bills in Congress include articles about this influence: The Preventing External Aggression and Conflict Escalation (PEACE) in Sudan Act of 2026 calls for investigating the role of non-state actors such as Wagner, while the National Defense Authorization Act for the fiscal year 2027 requests an intelligence report on Russian attempts to establish a naval base in Sudan.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Although these US interventions are consequential, they fail to address the underlying drivers of expanding Russian influence in Sudan, which derive principally from the reliance of both belligerent parties on Russian support in the conflict. Accordingly, the United States should press its Emirati partner, the main sponsor of the RSF militia, to cease funding the militia. A substantial body of expert analysis suggests that curtailing this funding stream would represent the most expedient pathway toward ending the war. At the outset of the ongoing war, Wagner supplied the RSF militia with weapons from Libya, but later, after the death of the Wagner leader and its rebranding into the Africa Corps (AC), Ukrainian special forces acted decisively, and the military intervened by launching drone attacks on the AC in Sudan. But the RSF-Wagner/AC relationship appears to have weakened over time, and the focus of monitoring should be more on the AC, Putin’s new mercenary arm, which was exposed to be helping smuggle arms to the RSF militia through the border with the Central African Republic. Other Topics of Interest Russia Unveils Jet-Powered BM-35 Drone With 217 Mph Speed Russian propagandists showcased a jet-powered BM-35 attack drone, claiming speeds over 350 km/h (217 mph) and resistance to Ukrainian electronic warfare. For years, Russia has been seeking to secure a naval base in the Red Sea, but the final decision has not been taken by Sudan. News reports revealed that Sudan once offered Russia this base for 25 years in exchange for arms. But the negotiations did not progress as Sudan does not want to be placed in a confrontation with the West. Another important issue that should be closely scrutinized is the smuggled gold from areas under the control of the RSF militia in Darfur to the UAE. Local news outlets claim that Russian personnel are helping the RSF with the mining operations. Previously, Putin relied on plundering Sudanese gold to support his invasion of Ukraine. The growing Russian influence in Sudan should be analyzed and addressed systematically. The prolongation of the war and the continued support of the UAE to the RSF militia to take over the whole country, a political project that, after more than three years of fighting, never succeeded and will only lead to the ramifications deepening the Russian influence in the country. The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post. The views expressed in this opinion article are the author’s and not necessarily those of Kyiv Post. Mohamed Suliman Mohamed Suliman is a Sudanese writer based in Boston, US. His recent articles focus on the RSF militia and its violations. He also holds a degree in engineering from the University of Khartoum in Sudan.