Russia launches investigation into reports of cargo plane shot down in Sudan

Russia announced Monday that it is investigating reports of a cargo plane shot down in Sudan by fighters from a paramilitary force.

Earlier on Monday, Sudan’s Rapid Support Forces (RSF) claimed to have shot down a cargo plane in the western Darfur region. The Associated Press (AP) reported that cellphone footage appeared to show debris while RSF fighters displayed what are believed to be identity documents found on the crashed plane.

But other documents seen in the clips indicate the downed plane may have belonged to an airline once linked to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which was allegedly supplying weapons to the RSF after the paramilitary group was involved in a ongoing conflict against the Sudanese. Armed Forces (SAF) in April 2023. The UAE has called accusations of arming the RSF “completely false” and “baseless”.

The Russian embassy in Khartoum said in a message that Russians may have been on board the downed plane and that its diplomats had begun investigating the crash. In the footage of RSF fighters in the wreckage, one of the IDs seen was a Russian passport.

RSF said in a statement that its forces had shot down a “foreign warplane” working on behalf of the Sudanese military. The statement added that the cargo plane was dropping bombs on civilians, although RSF offered no evidence to support the claim.

“All foreign mercenaries on board the plane were eliminated in the operation,” the RSF statement said, according to the AP.

The fighters in the phone footage said they used a surface-to-air missile to shoot down the plane. An identity document from a company in the United Arab Emirates was among the documents shown in the images. Another document identified the plane as an Ilyushin Il-76 and linked it to Kyrgyzstan’s New Way Cargo airline.

The AP had not heard back from civil aviation officials in Kyrgyzstan by press time after seeking comment Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the US State Department-funded group Conflict Observatory linked New Way Cargo’s Ilyushin Il-76s to UAE weapons being shipped to RSF in a report released in early October.

The report said New Way Cargo was transferring weapons from the United Arab Emirates via flights to Aéroport International Maréchal Idriss Deby in Amdjarass, Chad.

Amdjarass is across the border from Malha, Darfur, which is the site of the plane incident.

UAE officials did not immediately respond to the AP’s request for comment.

This article includes reporting from The Associated Press.