A fleet of Russian military-affiliated cargo aircraft has turned Algeria into one of the most heavily trafficked nodes in Moscow's global freight network, conducting at least 167 flights between Russia and the North African country in the past 14 months, according to a Defense News investigation by reporter Linus Höller published on 30 April 2026.
The investigation, the first in a multi-part series Defense News has dubbed "Shadow Airlines," manually retraced thousands of flight routes operated by roughly a dozen carriers — providing what the outlet describes as a first-of-its-kind picture of the front companies, airlines, and Soviet-era freighters that move Russian weapons and influence around the world.
Algeria's surprising role as a bustling hub in Russia's shadow air fleet exposes how Moscow evades Western sanctions to ship weapons and exert global influence. This investigation unmasks a web of front companies and aging Soviet freighters fueling conflicts worldwide, raising questions about North African complicity and the West's enforcement gaps amid ongoing tensions over Ukraine.
From Komsomolsk-on-Amur to Algerian air bases
Many of the documented flights connected airfields associated with United Aircraft Corporation, Russia's state-owned maker of military jets, to Algerian air bases including Oum El Bouaghi, Ain Oussera, Annaba, Laghouat, and Béchar, Defense News reports. Several of the cargo flights also roughly coincided with sightings of new Russian-made warplanes over the Algerian countryside.
Algeria is currently receiving Su-57 fifth-generation stealth fighters and Su-35 fighters from Russia, and already operates around 60 Su-30 multirole fighters and roughly 40 MiG-29 air-superiority jets, according to the investigation.
Algeria-bound aircraft visited Komsomolsk-on-Amur — the sole production site for both the Su-57 and Su-35 — at least a dozen times during the period investigated, Defense News found. There were at least eight flights through Irkutsk Northwest Airport, central to the Su-30 production line, and at least 28 flights through Yeltsovka Airport near Novosibirsk, the only facility producing and maintaining the Su-34 frontline bomber.
Margaux Garcia, a senior analyst at Washington-based C4ADS who tracks Russia's covert activities, told Defense News this was "a pretty reasonable explanation for these flights."
Algiers bought 73% of its weapons from Russia between 2018 and 2022 and remains Algeria's top supplier despite a recent decline, the investigation notes, citing data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The workhorse and the staging post
The Ilyushin IL-76 — the workhorse of these operators — typically has a range of around 5,000 km when reasonably loaded, limiting Russia's reach without intermediary refueling stops, which are hard to come by given Moscow's pariah status, Defense News writes.
About two-thirds of all Algeria-bound flights staged through Mineralnye Vody, a civilian airport in the North Caucasus with a runway nearly 4,000 meters long, the outlet reports. Pilots frequently employed evasion techniques: switching off ADS-B transponders or misdeclaring airports in their itineraries, particularly on southbound flights from Algiers. An air cargo industry insider, who spoke to Defense News on condition of anonymity, confirmed this is a known evasion technique deliberately used by pilots.
Algeria as a gateway — to Niger, Guinea, and Latin America
Defense News found that Algeria functions not only as a destination but also as a transit spot for Russian equipment moving deeper into Africa. Between July and September, two Gelix Airlines Il-76s — RA-76373 and RA-76360 — made eight return flights between Russia and Conakry, Guinea, via Algiers, according to the investigation.
Le Monde documented in January 2025 that two sanctioned Russian cargo ships unloaded over 2,000 tons of military cargo at Conakry, including light tanks and armored vehicles, after which the convoy drove north to Mali, Defense News notes.
A super-heavy Antonov AN-124 "Ruslan" operated by Volga-Dnepr Airlines, tail number RA-82079, has been flying regular shuttles between Algiers and what tracking data suggests is Niamey, Niger, since 21 April, the investigation reports. The aircraft arrived via Irkutsk Northwest and Mineralnye Vody, first landing at Oum El Bouaghi — where one of Algeria's Su-30 squadrons is based — before beginning the Niger circuit. The AN-124 can carry well over 100,000 kg.
The shuttle echoes a December 2025 Il Foglio investigation cited by Defense News, which showed an airlift was underway to move uranium purchased by Russian state-owned Rosatom from Niger.
The same shadow fleet has also touched down in the United Arab Emirates 25 times across multiple operators, and on at least two occasions used Algerian airports as stops on multi-hop tours through Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, and Cuba, the investigation found.
"Air Wagner" — under new management
The flight patterns also point to a second function: serving as the logistics arm for Russia's paramilitary forces abroad, including the former Wagner Group and its successor, Africa Corps, Defense News reports.
Candace Rondeaux, director of public intelligence firm Future Frontlines and author of an authoritative book on Wagner's history, told Defense News that "nothing has changed about Russia's need to circumvent sanctions." She estimated that at least half of the flights by airlines like Gelix and Aviacon Zitotrans are flown on behalf of the Kremlin's State Property Management Office, a body subordinate directly to Vladimir Putin rather than the Defence Ministry.
Garcia, the C4ADS analyst, said approximately 80% of Africa Corps personnel in places like Mali had previously served with Wagner, according to the investigation.
Aviacon Zitotrans and a sanctioned track record
Aviacon Zitotrans — the operator of the majority of Russian flights to Algeria in the past year — has been sanctioned by the United States, Canada, and Ukraine. The US Treasury, in its 2023 sanctions designation cited by Defense News, said the airline "has shipped military equipment such as rockets, warheads, and helicopter parts all over the world," including to Venezuela and Africa.
Analytics firm Dallas Analytics recently published primary documents — including air waybills — showing Aviacon Zitotrans transported Russian military helicopters to Laos in November 2020 under explicit Russian Defence Ministry orders, and shipped complete missile systems to India in late 2022, Defense News reports.
Dallas Analytics also concluded that Russia's military aviation maintenance backbone is "collapsing due to sanctions and absent spare parts," with growing numbers of military aircraft grounded — providing a structural reason for the Defence Ministry to lean on civilian-registered charter fleets.
Gelix Airlines: from helicopters to long-haul war zones
Gelix Airlines, which is not sanctioned by any country, has emerged as a key player despite spending decades as a regional helicopter operator focused on tourism and local lifts, the investigation notes. In 2021, the company received three heavy-lift Il-76D aircraft from state-owned diamond miner Alrosa.
Gelix CEO Vadim Baldin, in an email interview with Defense News, disputed any military dimension. He confirmed the cargo was "not military" and described the loads as cars, machinery, and containers — adding that he could not be more specific. Baldin told Defense News that Algeria is an important hub but only one of 36 countries Gelix flies to, and confirmed the country plays a key refueling role.
More than three-quarters of Gelix flights tracked for the investigation stopped at Russian military aviation plants before heading to Algeria, more than any other operator, Defense News reports. Speaking to Russian business newspaper Kommersant on 10 April, Baldin reported that Gelix's 2025 revenue surged more than twofold and flight hours tripled, attributing the growth to Latin American and West African routes.
In August 2025, Gelix became the third Russian airline licensed to transport nuclear materials and radioactive substances by air, according to Russian regulator Rostekhnadzor as cited by Defense News.
Friends in high places
Baldin, born in 1974, represented the Russian Federation on the boards of two state-owned military-industrial companies — Special Design Bureau Salyut and Design Bureau Gorizont — between 2014 and 2017, both subordinate to Russia's Ministry of Industry and Trade, the investigation reports, citing Russian biographical database viperson.ru. He has posted on Telegram about completing training with the United Russia Party Higher Party School and funding a monument to soldiers killed in what the Kremlin calls the "Special Military Operation" — its euphemism for the war in Ukraine.
The owner of Aviacon Zitotrans, Valery Savelyev, has served as a regional deputy for United Russia, Defense News reports.
The Russian and Algerian governments and Aviacon Zitotrans did not respond to Defense News' requests for comment by publication. Volga-Dnepr Airlines acknowledged receipt of questions but did not provide answers.
