AGENCY
mOSCOW, Mar 20
Russia is reportedly using its ‘ghost fleet’ to move military equipment to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar, a military leader who dominates the eastern part of the country. Haftar, the commander of the Libyan National Army (LNA), was pronounced guilty of “crimes against humanity” and a report from Amnesty International accused a militia led by his son of engaging in murder, torture and rape.
While Russia’s use of ghost ships, which employ a range of tricks to avoid detection, has helped it evade Western sanctions in transporting oil, the fleet’s role in smuggling weapons to Libya, banned under an international arms embargo, has shed light on Russia’s growing influence in Libya, which hints at its strategy to project power in the Mediterranean and several African countries. Russia’s discreet practice came to light after a ship watcher brought to light the cargo being moved in a Cameroonian-flagged cargo ship through Istanbul’s Bosphorus Strait last April, according to a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
The vessel ‘Barbaros’ began its journey in Russia and was en route to a port in eastern Libya controlled by Haftar. The picture of Barbaros was posted on X by Yörük Isik, who runs a consultancy analysing maritime activity on the strait, highlighting its cargo; military trucks made by a sanctioned Russian company.
The post triggered a flurry of law enforcement activity, ICIJ quoted leaked documents from a European Union naval mission called Operation Irini. The mission attempts to track and block weapons shipments to Libya, which are banned under an international arms embargo.
Further investigation by Interpol revealed Barbaros not only manipulated its Automatic Identification System (AIS), the device that transmits information about a ship’s location, but also changed its name thrice and registered itself under the flag of a different country at least 10 times since 2013.
The report assessed that the ship “may be carrying firearms destined for Libya”. Not only were these vessels turning off their AIS but some were spoofing their AIS data to appear elsewhere. According to the leaked documents, a vessel suspected of shipping weapons from Russia’s base in Syria to Libya manipulated its location to appear offshore Beirut but mistakenly showed it as on dry land at the airport.
Though the officials with the European naval mission boarded the Barbaros and found 115 Russian-made trucks, they found it had not been modified for military use, which meant there was no violation of the arms embargo. The ship was allowed to continue its journey.
Russia’s Libyan connection Anas El Gomati, director of the Tripoli-based Sadeq Institute, told ICIJ that Russia’s presence in Libya gives it control over migrant trafficking routes to Europe and creates a hub for naval operations a few hundred nautical miles from European shores.
“Russia has a partnership with Haftar, but its presence in Libya is much more about the West,” he said. “Ukraine is the eastern flank of NATO, and Libya is the southern flank — it’s Europe’s soft underbelly.”
European officials believe Russia’s engagement with Libya expanded since 2024, including in air travel that the number of Russian flights to Libya in the first half of 2024 matched the total for all of 2023. There is also an increased Naval presence in Libya and in Russian military shipments to the country.
Russian arms shipments not only fuel the conflict in Libya but serve to expand its influence across an unstable, resource-rich region in Africa, the leaked document said, adding that Moscow is using Libya as an “entry point for its logistical route to the Sahel.
