Russian forces in the Mediterranean - Wk22/2021

Task Force Composition
As reported by OSINT at noon of June 05


Weekly Brief
Most Russian warships were once again observed being located inside the Syrian port of Tartus, with the exception of the two capital vessel, the RFS Admiral Makarov and RFS Orekhovo-Zuevo. Both vessels have long endurance times at sea and thus most suited to keep track on NATO movements in the Eastern Mediterranean such as the movements of US, UK and French task forces.

Ropucha class LST RFS Alexander Otrakovsky surprisingly headed back towards the Black Sea. The vessel, being part of the Northern Fleet, is one of four Ropucha class LSTs send to the Black Sea in support of military exercises on the Crimea. Russia thus continues to concentrate its amphibious lift capacity in the Black Sea for the time being.

Tankers Sig and Yaz are doing a new supply run towards the Syria. One of the tanker, Sig, reportedly carries 3.000 tons of diesel fuel which is to be used by the Russian armed forces stationed in Syria.

Daily Events

May 30
Ropucha class landing vessel RFS Alexander Otrakovsky transited the Bosporus during the morning and headed back into the Black Sea [1] [2]. The vessel is part of the Northern Fleet and sent to the Black Sea Fleet to support large scale military exercises on the Crimea in April.

Satellite imagery of the Syrian port of Tartus showed several Russian warships harbored. These include the Improved Kilo class submarines RFS Stary Oshkol and RFS Rostov on Don, the RFS Vasily Bykov patrol vessel, Natya class minesweeper RFS Kovrovets, the Olemka class oiler RFS Iman and the Sliva class rescue tug Shakhter. A project 21980 Grachonok class harbor protection vessel was spotted as well [3].
Frigate RFS Admiral Makarov and the corvette RFS Orekhovo-Zuevo remain absent. Both vessels are most likely keeping track of the English-French carrier exercise "Gallic Strike-21" and the passage of a US amphibious task force in the Eastern Mediterrean.

The Russian salvage vessel Spastatel Demidov was reported 50 nautical miles east of Gibraltar and heading towards Europa Point. The vessel conducted a night time transit towards the Atlantic Ocean [4]. The vessel is heading from Novorossiysk towards Murmansk [5].

June 01
Rescue tug Sergey Balk passed through the Bosporus and returned to the Black Sea [6]. The transit took place during the morning hours [7].

June 04
Russian tankers Sig and Yaz passed through the Bosporus and headed towards the Mediterranean en route towards Syria [8]. The tanker Yaz passed at 0717 local time [9]. The tanker Sig allegedly carries around 3.000 tons of diesel fuel [10].

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