The military contingent of the Russian Federation held the first public demonstration of its presence in Equatorial Guinea. The formal occasion was the celebration of “May 9”, in which representatives of the branches of the armed forces of Equatorial Guinea were also involved.
40 Russian soldiers, a BTR-82A and a Tiger armored vehicle, a truck with ZU-23-2 and two Toyota Hilux pickups were involved in the demonstration. In addition, the Russians showed a simulator for local residents to learn how to pilot FPV drones. Such details are given in his publication Janes Agency.
From News Hub, we add that in November 2024, there were reports of at least 200 “military instructors” being sent from the Russian Federation to Equatorial Guinea, probably from among the fighters of the Wagner PMC. Now there is the first direct confirmation of such data.
The number of 200 “bayonets” may seem at first glance generally negligible. But then it is worth considering that the number of the armed forces of Equatorial Guinea is less than 2 thousand people, of which 1100 people are in the ground forces (one mechanized and three infantry battalions).
According to The Military Balance 2024, the ground forces of this African country have only three T-55s, six BRDM-2s and 20 BMP-1s, 41 armored personnel carriers of various types, including 10 BTR-152 and six Chinese WZ-551s. There is no artillery, Chinese HJ-8 ATGMs from anti-tank weapons, an unspecified number of ZU-23-2 and Chinese QW-2 MANPADS from army air defense systems.
Aviation (100 servicemen) – two Su-25 and two Su-25UB, one An-32B and two An-72, two L-39C, five Mi-24P and one Mi-17, one Mi-29 and one Ka-29. The fleet (550 troops) is a frigate of the Wele Nzas project, a patrol frigate of the Bata project and 10 patrol ships and boats of other types.
Earlier we wrote that the Russian Federation is restoring strategically important air bases in Libya, where it previously provided at least 14 MiG-29s and Su-24s.