On 3 October, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace published a research paper by Frederic Wehrey, titled ‘A Mixed Balance Sheet: Russia’s Uneven Influence in the Maghreb’. In his paper, Wehrey looks at the growing Russian presence and influence in the Maghreb region. He argues that Russia’s engagement in the Maghreb is centered on two anchors in the region, Algeria and Libya, having a more successful approach in the latter. In Libya, he writes, Moscow’s main host, facilitator, and donor is the eastern-based warlord Khalifa Haftar. This has allowed increasing Russian forces to secure ‘access to major oil fields and smuggling networks, as well as control over key air bases and ports, giving Moscow a dependable logistics hub for its growing security footprint in the Sahel and Sudan’.
Read the full research here.