Baltic Fleet Deployments - Wk 24/2021
Daily Events
June 14
Several Russian warships were observed on satellite imagery outside the port of Baltiysk. These vessels were reported as a Steregushchy and Gremyashchy class corvette, two Karakurt class corvettes, three Tarantul III class missile boats and one Nanucka III class missile boat [1]. The Tarantul and Nanuchka class vessels are part of the 36th Missile ship Brigade.
It is most likely that these vessels took part in the air defense exercise reported by TvZvezda which involved several corvettes and missile boats [2]. Su-24 and Su-30SM fighter bombers played the part of enemy aircraft during this exercise. The vessels were reportedly successful in repelling the airstrike with their missile and artillery systems.
June 15
TASS news agency reported that two Tu-160 strategic bombers conducted an eight hour long flight over the Baltic Sea. During their flight, the bombers were escorted by Su-35S and Su-27 fighter aircraft of the Baltic Naval Aviation. Italian F-35s, Danish F-16 and Swedish JAS 35 Gripen intercepted and escorted the Russian aircraft at various stages of their flight [3] [4] [5].
The Tu-160 took of from an airfield near Saratov and entered the Baltic Sea via Saint-Petersburg [6].
June 17
Submarine rescue vessel Aleksandr Pushkin operated in the area west of Ventspils, Latvia. The vessel might reported as supporting submarine operations in the deeper parts of the Baltic Sea near Gotland [7] [8]. The Improved Kilo class submarines RFS Volkhov and RFS Petropavlovsk-Kamchatka of the Pacific Fleet are known to be training in the Baltic Sea before heading towards the Pacific.