The third largest importer of Russian arms worldwide, Algiers is strengthening its military cooperation with Moscow in a context marked by increasing global geopolitical tensions.
Russia and Algeria plan to carry out new joint naval maneuvers in the western part of the Mediterranean, the official Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported on Tuesday, December 5, 2023.
The frigate Admiral Grigorovich, which is part of the Russian Navy’s Black Sea Fleet, has already arrived at the port of Algiers to participate in these maneuvers, the same source added without revealing the precise date of the exercises.
The new naval exercise is the latest in a series of joint military maneuvers between Russia and Algeria. In September 2022, around a hundred Algerian soldiers took part in the “Vostok 2022” military exercises which took place in the far east of continental Russia and in which only Moscow’s closest allies usually participate.
A few weeks later, Russia and Algeria conducted naval maneuvers in the Mediterranean, as well as land exercises in the Algerian province of Béchar located near the border with Morocco and 700 kilometers from the Spanish enclave of Melilla, according to Algerian media.
Algiers and Moscow maintain strong relations focused primarily on energy and security cooperation.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Algeria is the third largest importer of Russian weapons globally. Over the period 2016-2020, Algiers absorbed 15% of total arms sales made by Russian defense companies.
