During a recent parade, the Gabonese army showcased its possession of russian-made Spartak (other name: VKP-Ural) wheeled armored fighting vehicles, which were notably equipped with M2 Browning machine guns. Photos of these vehicles have been circulating on social media.
This development is unusual for several reasons. First, there have been no prior reports of russia exporting its latest wheeled armored fighting vehicles to other countries. Second, any military cooperation between the Kremlin and African nations tends to attract special attention in light of Moscow's unhidden plans to conquer the African defense market.
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According to The Military Balance 2023 guidebook, Gabon previously had no Soviet or russian heavy military equipment, aside from a limited number of ZU-23-2 and ZPU-4 anti-aircraft guns. Gabon is a country with a defense budget limited to only $300 million annually, which typically precludes the possibility of large-scale purchases of military equipment and weapons.
Given this context, the appearance of russian Spartak armored vehicles in Gabon’s arsenal raises questions about the nature of the cooperation between russia and Gabon.
After all, Moscow has been eyeing this country for a while. There are reports that, in 2021, the russian Ministry of Defense provided Gabon with a shipment of small arms free of charge, ostensibly to establish bilateral cooperation and assist in anti-poaching efforts.
Since August 2023, Gabon has been under military rule following a coup that overthrew the legitimate government and set the country on a path to distance itself from France, which maintains a contingent of approximately 350 troops in Gabon, with plans to reduce this to 100.
Official customs statistics, reported by The Moscow Times, indicate that in 2023, russia imported civil aviation spare parts worth $2 billion, with a significant portion — $1.48 billion — channeled through a shell company registered in Gabon. The owner of this company, though, is a citizen of Kyrgyzstan.
For russia, the supply of aircraft components is critical. Having launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the russian federation found itself banned from buying or leasing aircraft or their components due to sanctions.
These restrictions have caused severe supply issues for maintaining russia’s remaining operational aircraft, so it's plausible that the delivery of Spartak AFVs to Gabon was a form of payment or a token of appreciation for facilitating the acquisition of essential spare parts.
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