• Russia launched its bloody war on Ukraine, a Russian cargo plane stood on a Khartoum runway, a strip of tarmac surrounded by red-orange sand.
• A heated debate transpired between officials in a back office of Khartoum International Airport.
• They feared that inspecting the plane would vex the country’s increasingly pro-Russian military leadership.
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A Russian cargo jet waited on a Khartoum runway surrounded by red-orange sand when Russia invaded Ukraine. The plane’s manifest listed cookies. Sudan exports cookies seldom.

Khartoum International Airport back office officials argued heatedly. They worried examining the jet would anger the pro-Russian military leadership. Multiple efforts to intercept Russian carriers failed. Officials eventually boarded the aircraft.
Colorful cookie boxes lined the hold. Sudan’s most valuable resource was hidden below. Gold. A tonne.

Multiple interviews with Sudanese and US officials and troves of documents portray a picture of an extensive Russian conspiracy to loot Sudan’s resources to reinforce Russia against Western sanctions and bolster Moscow’s war effort in Ukraine.

The data also implies that Russia cooperated with Sudan’s embattled military leadership to circumvent the Sudanese state and steal hundreds of millions in public income.

In return, Russia backs Sudan’s unpopular military administration as it quashes the country’s pro-democracy movement.

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