Russian forces in the Mediterranean - Wk35/2021

Task Force Composition

UPDATE: The location of the oiler RFS Akademik Pashin was reported on Sep-03 in a position south of Cyprus and heading towards Tartus.
As reported by OSINT at noon of September 04

Weekly Brief

Russia's submarine force dramatically increased from the standard two to five Improved Kilo class submarines operating in the Mediterranean. This means that Russia is now operating more submarines Kilo class submarines in the Mediterranean than inside the Black Sea. The Pacific Fleet submarines will transit further to the Pacific Fleet in the near future and RFS Krasnodar is expected to relieve the RFS Stary Oskol. RFS Rostov-On-Dan will likely remain in the Mediterranean for now, as she entered it as recently as March 13.

Intelligence collection vessel RFS Ivan Khurs departed the Mediterranean. OSINT did not pick up her return to the Mediterranean as she was last reported in Port Sudan on April 10. It is possible that she returned in the Mediterranean on June 18 together with Amur repair vessel PM-138 which was also dispatched to the Red Sea around the same time as RFS Ivan Khurs.

Daily Events

August 30
The intelligence collection vessel RFS Ivan Khurs of the Adm Yuriy Ivanov class has passed through the Bosporus and returned to the Black Sea [1] [2] [3]. The vessel was last reported by OSINT when it was in the port of Sudan on April-10, during Wk-14. Her reentry in the Mediterranean was not reported.

August 31
Rescue tug Yakov Grebelskiy entered the Mediterranean at 0600Z together with the Improved Kilo class submarines RFS Volkhov, RFS Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and RFS Krasnodar [4]. Bad weather conditions at Gibraltar did not allow for a visual identification of the passage [5].

Rescue tug SB-742 was reported in the Alboran Sea at 0400Z and heading west. She will most likely take over the escort of the three submarines and escort them to Tartus, Syria [6].

September 01
Rescue tug Yakov Grebelskiy left the Mediterranean at 0600Z and most likely headed back to the port of Baltiysk [7].

September 03
Oiler RFS Akademik Pashin was last reported south of Cyprus and heading towards Tartus at 12 knots. The oiler is most likely sailing togethern with the Udaloy class destroyer RFS Vice-Admiral Kulakov, Gremyashchy class corvette RFS Gremyashchy and Aleksandrit class minehunter RFS Vladimir Yemelyanov.



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