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.
In brief
A regular shipping line between Novorossiysk and the Nigerian port of Lagos is to start in mid-June, the BusinessInsiderAfrica portal reported. Russia, which has no direct air connection with Nigeria, wants to use the sea route to sell agricultural products in Africa, including those looted from Ukraine, and plans another connection from Novorossiysk to Dakar in Senegal. In March 2025 Russian Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov and Nigeria's Chief of Defence Staff General Christopher Musa discussed supplies of Russian weapons.
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.
Source: PAP / Gazeta Morska · Compiled by: Kamil Kusier
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