Russian ship defies sanctions to send military vehicles to Mali

Russian and Malian troops fighting against a rebel offensive in northern Mali have been resupplied with a vast number of military vehicles that appear to have been delivered by a sanctioned cargo ship, BBC Verify has found.

A large column of armoured vehicles were seen arriving in the capital Bamako in verified footage broadcast by Malian state TV on 25 July. Reporters said the convoy had travelled from Lomé port in Togo.

A sanctioned Russian cargo ship, Mikhail Britnev, docked in Lomé on 9 July, according to ship tracking data reviewed by BBC Verify. Satellite images appear to show that the ship was carrying the kind of trucks, armoured personnel carriers and light infantry vehicles seen in Bamako, according to experts.

Ship tracking data shows that the Mikhail Britnev left Russia's Baltiysk port on 18 June and moved through the North Sea before entering the English Channel.

BBC Verify understands that the vessel was escorted through the Channel by a Russian Ropucha-class warship. The UK's Ministry of Defence declined to comment.

Experts say the deliveries signify that the Kremlin is doubling down on its support for Mali's ruling junta, which has been rocked by the success of a rebel offensive led by the Jihadist group Jama'at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) and Tuareg separatists. The advance has seized large swathes of territory in the north.

The Kremlin has backed the Mali military government since French forces withdrew from the country in 2022, receiving cash payments and preferential access to mines and gold deposits in return. At first the Russian mercenary group Wagner was deployed, but its operations have since been taken over by Africa Corps, which falls under Russia's defence ministry.

“I SERIOUSLY DOUBT THAT AFRICA CAN EVER BECOME CIVILIZED.”

For Russia, it’s just business. Mali was the second largest gold producer in Africa in 2024, producing 51 tons. Gold is by far Mali’s largest export, comprising nearly 80 percent of Mali’s total exports and is steady in those numbers today. The price of gold fluctuates with the world market price, but recent upward trends have helped bolster Mali’s revenue. In addition to commercial mining operations, artisanal gold panning is estimated to produce as much as 60 tons annually. More than two million people (5 percent of the population) depend on the mining sector for income.

There’s more to the fighting than just territory or tribal domination. There’s also worth. And uncivilized people don’t understand that. Mali does.

wy69

AI says that Russia supports the militarty junta that now controlss the landlocked West African nation of Mali is:

Russia supports Mali primarily to secure geopolitical influence and access to mineral wealth, particularly gold mining concessions, in exchange for military protection of the ruling military junta. This partnership allows Moscow to expand its sphere of influence in West Africa by replacing former colonial power France, offering security assistance without conditions related to democracy or human rights.

Historical Socialist Era (1960–1968)

Upon gaining independence from France in 1960, the first president, Modibo Keïta, declared an "option socialiste" (socialist option). His governing party, the Union Soudanaise, was the first in newly liberated Africa to identify Marxism-Leninism as its ideological basis, establishing close diplomatic and economic ties with the communist bloc and nationalizing key industries. This period ended in 1968 when Keïta was overthrown in a military coup due to widespread discontent with his radical policies.

Modern Political Status

Following the 1968 coup, Mali experienced decades of military rule before transitioning to a multiparty democracy in 1992. The current government, led by the military council since 2020, has strengthened ties with Moscow and deployed mercenaries from the Wagner Group, but this alliance is geopolitical rather than an adoption of communist ideology. The state does not operate under a communist framework, and political parties based on ethnic or religious lines are prohibited by the constitution, though democratic processes are currently suspended.

Meanwhile:

Ukraine has “turned the tide of war”:

- it’s gotten itself landlocked- Odessa ports rendered inop. No ships in / out.
- it lost 13 settlements in the span of the month of July
- it lost over 700 sq. km. of land in the same timeframe, the highest since 2025
- it’s rationing diesel fuel in the middle of harvest season
- it’s gotten 400 gas stations destroyed, not a single one remains between Poltava, Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk
- it’s gotten over 200 locomotives destroyed just this year, which is 15% of its total railroad fleet
- it’s gotten 8 Nova Poshta (400 total), 2 Epicenter (13 total), and 2 Rozetka market places, dual use retail giants destroyed or damaged in July.
- electrical grid severely degraded.

...and the dreaded war of attrition grinds on.

First of all, I am African. Born, raised, educated in Africa. Only left for the first time in my late teens to come to the States for college, did well, worked in a bank for a couple of years, before heading back to Africa to make my fortune. Worked out well for me, and while I am 100% African I still hold a deep appreciation for the States as a bastion of many things ‘good and great.’

You might expect me to push back on the IQ quote, but I won’t. While it’s often used to drive a specific narrative ;^), I cannot disagree with the raw numbers. Many of my fellow Africans are woefully behind in areas measured by standard IQ tests. (I don’t put too much stock in IQ, even though mine tested at 147, but it does serve as a universal baseline.)

I could also argue that Africa is not a monolith (during college I would often be asked if I knew so and so from West Africa, even though I am from East Africa …or some African American claiming my ancestors sold his to slavery. Oh, and there is LITTLE love lost between most Africans in the States and African Americans, but I digress again LOL).

There are massive differences across the continent; for instance, two different African tribal groups can be genetically further apart than a European is from an East Asian. I learned this firsthand when I invested in a genetic coding company developing targeted medicines for Africans …that sheer genetic diversity presented a massive hurdle. I could also argue that while national averages are low, every country consists of dozens or hundreds of different tribes with varying baseline intelligence metrics. Similar to comparing the aggregate IQs of blacks in ghettos and whites in trailer parks, with that of Asian neurologists and Indian hedge fund managers in Connecticut.

But I digress.

I could say that Africans have huge disparity across countries, but then there is a map that shows IQs for each country that are still quite low. But then again, all of those countries have dozens (sometimes hundreds) of different tribes, and thus there will be different intelligence markers.

However, no matter how I slice and dice it, the continent’s average remains low. There are many reasons for this, but one real driver (at least for me) is environment and opportunity, which is evident even within my own family. Coming from one of the wealthier lineages in my extended family, I had access to better prenatal nutrition, elite education (I always joke that I can calculate a Gaussian copula on a napkin), and global exposure. Those environmental factors gave me insurmountable advantages over my older cousins. Conversely, I have younger cousins who can make me look slow because they benefited from even better resources than I did, going on to do AMAZING things in ‘Kenya’s Silicon Savannah.’

But, yet again, I digress. :)

The key thing is not about IQ points and what not. What is importsnt is that the geopolitical reality matters far more than debating IQ points.

The bottom line is this: the US simply cannot afford to abandon Africa to the Chinese. (Russia is weak and largely irrelevant here; China is an entirely different monster.) If the US would never abandon the tiny island of Guam due to its strategic advantages, imagine the cost of losing the second-largest, most resource-rich continent on Earth.

I see firsthand what the Chinese are up to on the ground, and I can tell you that Africa is critical to them. It is not because they care about Africans, but because Beijing thinks in terms of decades. They fully understand what controlling the continent means for the future of global power.

But hey, what do I know? :^)

I will say this though …if saying that the average IQ of Africans is low will make people focus on the REAL issues, then here you have an actual African confirming that. Hopefully now people can focus on how China is playing a very specific long-game that the United States ABSOLUTELY cannot lose.

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