UAE turns to Russian shadow airline for missions in Africa: Investigation — SkimNews
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- UAE has used sanctioned Russian cargo airline Aviacon Zitotrans for more than 100 missions since mid-2025, with three specific aircraft (RA-76842, RA-76502, RA-76846) explicitly designated as blocked property by the US Office of Foreign Assets Control.
- Aviacon Zitotrans has been sanctioned by the US, Canada, and Ukraine for supporting Russia's war effort, and leaked internal documents show the airline has delivered combat helicopters to Southeast Asia, armored personnel vehicles to Turkey, and received a special exemption to fly missiles and warheads.
- Flight tracks show Aviacon Zitotrans aircraft departing UAE airfields including the joint civil-military airport at Al Ain and the military Sweihan Air Base, with transponders going dark over the Gulf of Aden before reappearing on return legs — a pattern C4ADS analyst Margaux Garcia called evidence of intentional obfuscation, not coverage gaps.
- The same planes may be supplying opposing sides of Sudan's civil war: the UAE backs the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), while Russia backs the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF), and leaked documents show the same aircraft flying from Russia and Turkey into Port Sudan on one set of missions and operating on UAE-chartered routes linked to RSF supply lines on others.
- The UAE has emerged as a hub for Russian sanctions circumvention, with leaked Aviacon Zitotrans air waybills showing the Gulf monarchy routinely procuring Western sanctioned electronics, building on prior reporting identifying Dubai's gold markets as a lifeline for Moscow cut off from SWIFT.
- Additional Aviacon Zitotrans flights connected the UAE to a private Pakistani airstrip called Chandana Airstrip — not listed in ICAO/IATA databases — which prior reporting tied to Abu Dhabi's Al Nahyan ruling family and its falconry hunting grounds, with UAE flags and portraits of Gulf monarchs visible at the facility.
- Beyond the Sudan-linked network, Aviacon Zitotrans aircraft flew to Ethiopia's Harar Meda military air base and Addis Ababa, as well as to Libya, Uganda, D.R. Congo, and Nigeria over the past 18 months, with Somali authorities having canceled related UAE agreements in January 2026.
Why it matters: The UAE's use of three OFAC-blocked Russian aircraft creates direct sanctions exposure for any party transacting with them, while the dual-role flights — supplying both RSF and SAF in Sudan with the same airframes — entrench one of the world's worst humanitarian disasters. For Western policymakers trying to choke Russia's war revenue, the investigation exposes the UAE as the central sanctions-avoidance node, with leaked waybills documenting Western electronics procurement routed through Gulf charter networks.
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