SUDAN INSIGHT ALERT: Middle East Institute – Resilience amid turmoil: Russia and Sudan maintain strong ties despite political upheaval
Samuel Ramani, a doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford, cites Sudan’s strategic location on the Red Sea and long history of aligning with Russia on diplomatic crises, to argue that Russia will try to shape the course of Sudan’s democratic transition.
Ramani examines Russia’s two-track engagement strategy in Sudan, which allows it to maintain positive relations with both the military establishment and civilian policymakers, who are increasingly focused on economic development.
However, Ramani also states that prominent Moscow-based defence analyst Kirill Semenov told him that Russia supports a military-brokered transition in Sudan, and hopes to strengthen its person-to-person links with the Sudanese military to ensure that it can compete with China for long-term geopolitical influence.
Nonetheless, Ramani adds that Russia is seeking to distance itself from allegations that it is promoting autocracy.