Russian forces in the Mediterranean - Wk26/2021

Task Force Composition

As reported by OSINT at noon of July 03

Weekly Brief

The start of the week saw Russian Naval activity in the Eastern Mediterranean with an air defense exercise held by several naval vessels and the two submarines normally stationed in Tartus. No additional news and follow up reports were available through OSINT beyond July 29.

Daily Events

June 27
Twitter user @GrangerE04117 reported a satellite image of the Syrian port of Tartus which showed the absence of Russian warships. This image suggests that the entire task force was at sea, most likely in support of the large scale naval exercises that are scheduled to start soon [1].

June 28
Five Russian warships held an air defense exercise at an unspecified location in the Eastern Mediterranean. The warships trained the defense against aircraft, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. TvZvezda reported three of the five warships involved were reported by name, Slava class cruiser RFS Moskva and Grigorovich class frigates RFS Admiral Essen and RFS Admiral Makarov [2]. TASS Agency reported later in the day that the Improved Kilo class submarines RFS Stary Oshkol and RFS Rostov-on-Don also took part in the exercise. All five vessels reportedly started their naval exercise on June 25 [3]. 

June 29
TvZvezda released images of an air defense exercise in the eastern Mediterranean but did not specify the date on which this specific exercise took place, though it is most likely the exercise which was earlier reported on June 28. The images showed several aircraft, including an Il-38 maritime patrol aircraft and Su-34 and Su-35 fighter bombers taking of from the Khmeimim airbase to conduct a simulated airstrike against the frigate RFS Admiral Makarov.
RFS Admiral Makarov also conducted an anti-submarine exercise which saw her Ka-27 helicopter being launched and search for an Improved Kilo class submarine [4] [5].

Sentinel 2 satellite imagery showed the Russian dock at Tartus to be empty, meaning that the Russian task force was still at sea.

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