The Russian Grip Tightens on Libya

While global attention remains fixated on events unfolding in the Middle East, significant developments in Libya are slipping under the radar.

On April 12th, a Russian Navy flotilla comprising two landing ships, the Otrakovsky and the Ivan Gren, departed from Tartus, escorted by the corvette Mercury , en route to Libya.

Upon arrival in Tobruk, the vessels unloaded a substantial amount of military equipment, as depicted in circulating online videos showing heavy machinery and artillery being offloaded at the port of Cyrenaica.

This purportedly isn’t the first such delivery to Libya, with unconfirmed reports suggesting it could be the fifth. Following their operations in Libya, the Russian ships proceeded towards Syria.

Just days earlier, Sergio Scandura, a journalist from Radio Radicale renowned for his meticulous coverage of events in the central Mediterranean, tracked the Russian cargo vessel “Mekhanik Makarin” meandering along the eastern coast of Libya with no clear destination before heading westward. This suspicious route raises questions about the intentions behind such maneuvers.

What’s particularly baffling is the apparent lack of intervention from Operation IRINI, tasked with halting the illicit arms trade to Libya. Even if not directly engaged due to the military nature of the vessels involved, their silence, both operationally and in terms of media coverage, raises eyebrows.

While past revelations about the delivery of MiG-29s to the Libyan (Eastern) Air Force were disclosed by official US sources, this time, only through OSINT efforts have we pieced together a narrative hinting at the potential establishment of a feared Russian naval base in Libya—a prospect that, given the observed traffic, appears increasingly likely.