Moscow: According to two Sudanese officials quoted by the Associated Press on Saturday, the Sudanese military's reservations about a deal with Moscow to establish a Russian naval base on the Red Sea coast have been allayed.

They allayed all of our worries. From the military's perspective, the agreement is now acceptable, an official was quoted as saying. The sources claim that Russia has also acceded to demands, including the delivery of "more weapons and equipment."

The agreement must then be ratified by Sudan's future parliament, which is still in the formation stage.

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Sergey Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, said to reporters on Thursday that the agreement was "in the process of ratification" after visiting several African nations the previous week.

The base would accommodate up to 300 Russian military and civilian personnel as well as up to four warships at once, per the agreement that was signed in 2020. Khartoum reportedly wanted to modify the agreement in 2021 while requesting financial assistance from Moscow.

Since the overthrow of 30-year leader Omar al-Bashir in a coup in 2019, Sudan has been without a functioning parliament. On Tuesday, several political parties in Cairo, Egypt, signed an agreement to engage in dialogue as part of the transition to civilian rule.

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On the same day Lavrov met with Sudanese officials, a delegation of US and European envoys arrived in Sudan. According to three people with knowledge of the situation quoted by Bloomberg, Lavrov's visit "came as a surprise in Western capitals."

The US also increased diplomatic relations with Sudan last year, sending John Godfrey to Khartoum as the country's first ambassador there since the 1990s. A Russian base, according to Godfrey, would "lead to further isolation of Sudan at a time when the majority of Sudanese want to become closer to the international community," he told local media in September.

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Senior Russian diplomat Oleg Ozerov has charged that the West has used "blatant pressure" on Africa. I doubt that will make African nations particularly happy, says Ozerov.