Russian Navy - News and Analysis

Weekly Brief Low naval activity was reported during this week. This was most likely the result of bad weather conditions during the second half of the week that forced the fleet to remain in port. Exercises November 29 Ball and Bastion coastal missile defenses at the Taman Peninsula conducted electronic launches against a simulated enemy warship operating in the Black Sea. The exercise is reported to be part of the winter training program and involved the missile launchers heading towards their launch positions, camouflage themselves and work out a firing solution [ 1 ]. Bykov class patrol vessel RFS Pavel Derzhavin is conducting helicopter training exercises in the Black Sea. A Ka-27PL helicopter completed over 10 landings on the flight deck with the vessel being in motion, adrift or at anchor [ 2 ]. November 30 Bad weather conditions are reported at the Crimea and Caucasian coastlines. As a result, the training programs have been corrected as the fleet is taking actions to minimi...

Task Forc e Compostion As reported by OSINT at noon of November 27 Weekly Brief   Several naval transits were reported in the Eastern Mediterranean with the frigate RFS Admiral Grigorovich and patrol vessel RFS Dmitry Rogachev presumably returning back to the naval base at Tartus. Logistic vessel RFS Vitse-Admiral Paromov was observed heading towards the Suez Canal and back. The vessel could be escorting a vessel that arrived from the Red Sea. If so, the most likely candidate would be the intelligence collection vessel RFS Kildin which was last reported in the port of Oman on November 01. Though no confirmation exists that the RFS Kildin has entered the Mediterranean at the moment of writing. Daily Events November 21 Rescue tug MB304 passed by the Dardanelles and entered the Sea of Marmara. The vessel was seen towing the Project 21980 Grachonok class counter-sabotage boat Pavel Silaev [ 1 ]. Later during the day the Natya class minesweeper RFS Ivan Gobulets was reported enteri...

Task Force Composition As reported by OSINT on November 20 Weekly Brief A relative strong Russian task group comprising a Grigorovich class frigate and a Bykov class patrol vessel is operating in the Western Mediterranean. The vessels took part in a joint exercise with the Algerian Navy which focused on countering naval activity by non-state actors such as piracy and smuggling. The Russian vessels are however in a close position to monitor the French naval exercise Polaris 21 [ a ]. It is possible that both vessels and their escorting rescue tug are going to wait for the arrival of two Baltic Fleet Ropucha class vessels, RFS Korolev and RFS Minsk, that are reportedly heading from the Atlantic Ocean towards the Black Sea. Some limited naval activity was reported in the Eastern Mediterranean as well with the logistic support vessel RFS Vice-Admiral Paromov making a brief port call at Limassol on November 17 and 18. The vessel allegedly did not refuel or took on supplies during its port c...

Task Force Composition As reported by OSINT at noon of November 13 Weekly Brief A small Russian task force of one frigate and one patrol vessel arrived in Algeria by the end of the week in order to take part in a joint naval training exercise. The exercise is expected to last by the end of next week. Russian forces stationed at Tartus appear to experimenting with means on how to hide their vessels in port from commercial satellite images. Several smoke generators were observed turned on when a satellite passed overhead. The smoke however failed to spread out and hide the port. As such, the naval activity within the port remained clearly visible, only to be interrupted by small strokes of smoke. The majority of the task force however was at sea during the passage, leaving only one Improved Kilo class submarine and the Ropucha class LST RFS Tsezar Kunikov  in port. Daily Events November 07 Moma class intelligence collection vessel RFS Kildin was reported moored in the port of Oman. T...

  November 01 Caspian Flotilla As part of a training battle, medics of the 177th NI Regiment trained to evacuate wounded soldiers from the battlefield with the use of armored BMM-80 medical vehicles. The wounded soldiers were stabilized on the battlefield and subsequently evacuated to first-aid posts in the field. Around 100 medical personnel were involved in the exercise [ 1 ]. November 03 Caspian Flotilla Details regarding the upcoming parachute training program for the 177th NI Regiment were reported by the Ministry of Defense. The air-assault battalion and reconnaissance units will perform about 500 training jumps from helicopters provided by the 4th Air Army. The jumps will take place from Mi-8AMTSh transport helicopters at standard altitudes between 600 and 1.300 meters. Long jumps are also trained, these will take place from an altitude of 1.500 meters. As usual, the marines will use the D-10 and Arbalet-2 parachutes. The marines will also work out on how to engage targets w...

Task Force Composition As reported by OSINT at noon of November 06 Weekly Events The reported naval activity remains low and is limited to the scheduled rotation of naval forces out of the Mediterranean as well as a new supply run towards Tartus. Daily Events October 31 Grigorovich class frigate RFS Admiral Essen departed the Mediterranean following a 85-day deployment [ 1 ]. The transit took place during the morning hours [ 2 ]. November 03 Bykov class patrol vessel RFS Vasily Bykov passed the Turkish Straits and headed towards the Black Sea. The vessel has spent 168 days being deployed in the Mediterranean [ 3 ]. Ropucha class LST Tsezar Kunikov passed through the Bosporus and headed towards the Mediterranean. The vessel is heading to the port of Tartus, Syria [ 4 ].