Russian forces in the Mediterranean - Wk15/2021

Task Force composition
As reported by OSINT at noon of April 17

Weekly Brief

A transfer of strategic assets took place at the end of the week with two Northern Fleet Ropucha class LSTs entering the Black Sea, followed by the two Baltic Fleet LSTs. It is presumed that these vessels will also be heading towards the Black Sea to support Russian amphibious training exercises.
Russia's build up of amphibious ships in the Black Sea has been ongoing since the start of week 15, with eight landing craft of the Caspian Flotilla entering the Black Sea. On the other hand, the landing vessel RFS Novocherkassk entered the Mediterranean on April 12 for a new supply run towards Syria. She is expected to return to the Black Sea in the second half of week 16 as the normal time between entrance and departure is between nine to 14 days.

The Baltic Fleet group comprising the RFS Stoiky, RFS Kola, PM-82 and Yakov Grebelsky is making steady progress towards the Strait of Gibraltar and is expected to leave the Mediterranean in the first half of Week 16.

Daily events

April 12
Black Sea Fleet Ropucha class landing ships RFS Novocherkassk transited the Bosporus and headed towards the Mediterranean [1]. The vessel is en route towards Tartus [2].

April 15
Satellite imagery showed Russian naval activity near the Syrian port of Tartus. Present inside the port are Amur class repair vessel PM-138 and improved Kilo class submarines RFS Stary Oshkol and RFS Rostov-on-Don. Buyan-M class corvette RFS Orekhovo Zuevo was seen entering the port while frigate RFS Admiral Grigorovich appears to be holding a towing exercise together with the rescue tug Sergey Balk [3]. The Ropucha class landing ships of the Baltic and Northern Fleet were not spotted on the imagery.

A Ropucha class LST was spotted in the central part of the Aegean Sea on a northern course during the late afternoon [4]. The identity of the vessel could not be verified.

The AIS signal of the Altay class fleet oiler RFS Kola was last reported in the late afternoon in a position northeast of the Italian island of Pantelleria. The vessel is on a northwestern course heading towards the Strait of Gibraltar. The oiler is travelling together with the Steregushchy class corvette RFS Stoiky, Amur class repair vessel PM-82 and the rescue tug Yakov Grebelsky.


April 17
Ropucha class LSTs RFS Kondopoga and RFS Aleksandr Otrakovskiy transited the Bosporus and headed towards the Black Sea [5]. The transit took place during the morning.
Later during the day, the Baltic Fleet Ropucha class LSTs RFS Korolev and RFS Kaliningrad also transited the Bosporus and headed into the Black Sea [6]. The passage took place between 19:45 and 19:55 local time.

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