Russia opens shipping line connecting Novorossiysk with Nigerian port of Lago
A new regular maritime route between Novorossiysk and the Nigerian port of Lagos is set to begin operations in mid-June. Russia, which lacks direct air links with Nigeria, aims to leverage this sea route to export agricultural products to Africa—including those seized from Ukraine.
worldwide ports transport and forwarding news23 april 2025 | 13:17 | Source: PAP / Gazeta Morska | Prepared by: Kamil Kusier | Print
fot. Nigerian Ports Authority
According to BusinessInsiderAfrica, the Kremlin is also planning to link Novorossiysk with Dakar in Senegal. From this port, Moscow intends to ship raw materials extracted in neighboring Mali, a country increasingly dependent on Russian military assistance.
Russia is also strengthening its military ties with Nigeria. In March 2025, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and Nigeria’s Chief of Defense Staff, General Christopher Musa, discussed deliveries of Russian weapons to the African nation—fulfilling a military cooperation agreement signed with Abuja in 2021.
These defense relations date back to Soviet times, when Kremlin-supplied arms helped Nigeria defeat separatists attempting to secede with the Biafra region between 1967 and 1970—efforts that were notably countered by Polish fighter ace Jan Zumbach of the famed 303 Squadron.
Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, had long resisted Russia’s overtures, recognizing its destabilizing role in junta-led Sahel nations such as Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger. However, in January—despite Western pressure—Nigeria joined the BRICS group as a partner country, where Russia seeks to assert a leading role.
Buy us a coffee, and we’ll invest in great maritime journalism! Support Gazeta Morska and help us sail forward – click here!
Kamil Kusier
redaktor naczelny
comments
Add the first comment
see also
Europe without illusions: sea, trade and security in the new transatlantic architecture. a voice of realism?
Russian escort and U.S. oil chase: a new front in the North Atlantic. Implications for shipping and energy markets
Changing course of tankers: geopolitics, sanctions and a new map of crude oil trade
The capture of President Nicolás Maduro: how U.S. maritime operations triggered a geopolitical turning point
The sea as an instrument of power: the maritime dimension of the U.S. National Security Strategy of 2025
Keel laid for Poland’s FSRU Terminal: a floating pillar of energy security takes shape
Finnish Police detain cargo vessel Fitburg following subsea cable damage
Man overboard on the Baltic Sea: international SAR operation near Rügen amid deteriorating weather conditions
Busy night over the Baltic. Poland’s Air Defence in the reality of hybrid pressure
Ekofisk investments strengthen ORLEN’s position on the Norwegian Continental Shelf
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT