Russian stealth jets have arrived in North Africa, as filmed by Algerian potato farmer

BERLIN — A new video snapped by a potato farmer appears to confirm that Algeria is the first country to have received the fifth-generation Su-57 stealth fighter jet from Russia.

The online video shows the distinctive silhouette of Russia’s most modern fighter jet against a blue sky over a landscape with spread-out hills consistent with northern Algeria. It appears to have originated from the Arabic-language TikTok user doz.kbran, whose public profile also features Algerian soccer clips and cityscapes.

The video was reportedly recorded near Oum El Bouaghi Air Base, located by the town of Ain Beida. The landscape and terrain surrounding the base are consistent with those visible in the recording.

The government in Algiers became interested in purchasing the stealth fighter following a visit to the 2019 MAKS air show in Moscow, where the Su-57E export variant was first unveiled.

In October 2025, a cyberattack by the hacker collective Black Mirror leaked documents from Russia’s state-owned Rostec corporation that suggested Algeria had indeed placed an order for 12 Su-57 aircraft. The document also indicated an Algerian order for 14 fighter-bombers Su-34.

The leaked spreadsheet carried the branding of AO Kret, an avionics company that supplies the electronics for both aircraft to Sukhoi. The avionics packages for the Su-57 were listed at around $200 million for twelve aircraft.

The total price for the Algerian Su-57 order was widely reported in Russian-language aviation media as around $2 billion for 14 aircraft. Russia’s state-owned Sputnik news site received confirmation of the deal from Algerian sources in late 2020 (archived here), though details about the eventual order volume – 12 copies or 14 – and cost remain murky.

In November 2025, Russia confirmed that two Su-57 fighters had already been delivered to an unnamed foreign customer, presumably Algeria.

Algeria is the first country aside from Russia to operate the Su-57. It is a significant arms sale for Russia, which has scrambled to maintain an important revenue stream despite a downturn in business caused by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Authoritarian countries, and particularly those in Africa and the Middle East, have been singled out as reliable buyers by the Kremlin, in part because of their intransigence in the face of Western condemnation of Russia.

“This arms deal is one of the issues the United States considers problematic” in relations with Algeria, said Robert Palladino, head of the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, speaking before a Senate committee last week. He said such purchases “may trigger” sanctions based on Washington’s Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act, CAATSA.

The presence of the top-end fighter jet in Algeria is part of a broader modernization program for the country’s air force and could shift the regional balance of power in favor of Russia’s ally. Algeria and its western neighbor Morocco have a longstanding row that presents one of North Africa’s most significant disputes.

An upset in the military balance on NATO’s southern flank has the potential to spur a regional arms race or reignite hostilities along the border, which has remained closed since 1994.

In November 2024, Morocco’s Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita delivered a stark warning saying that Algeria is seeking “escalation” and there are “signs that demonstrate Algeria’s will to start a war in the region and a military confrontation with Morocco.”

Algeria has called the accusations “projection” and dismissed them as unfounded provocations.