Russian Navy - News and Analysis

Task Force Composition As reported by OSINT at the morning of March 05 Weekly Brief With OSINT sources focused on the war in Ukraine, reporting about the Mediterranean task force is scarce. Amur class repair vessel PM-82 has arrived in the Mediterranean and will most likely replace the logistic support vessel Vice-Admiral Pamorov which departed Tartus on March 3rd. Vice-Admiral Pamorov will return to its homeport in the Black Sea and is thus able to pass the Turkish Straits. Daily Events February 27 Amur class repair vessel PM-82 passed the Strait of Gibraltar during the night and entered the Mediterranean [ 1 ]. February 28 Amur class repair vessel PM-82 left the Alboran Sea during the morning and headed further east [ 2 ]. March 02 Repair vessel PM-82 entered the Sicilian Straits during the morning hours. The vessel is still heading east [ 3 ]. March 03 Logistic support vessel Vice-Admiral Pamorov departed the Syrian port of Tartus [ 4 ]. The vessel will most likely return towards th...

March 17, 2022 At least six Russian warships were observed near Odessa. The warships maintained their distance and operated on the horizon. March 16, 2022 Several vessels entered the port of Sevastopol including the patrol vessel Vasily Bykov. The Bykov was rumored to be struck and sunk by a Ukrainian grad MLRS barrage near Odessa on March 07 dough this was never officially confirmed.  The visual confirmation of the vessel entering the port of Sevastopol undamaged indicates that if an MLRS attack took place, it did not struck the Bykov. Ropucha class landing vessel Kondopoga of the northern fleet allegedly also entered the port of Sevastopol. March 15, 2022 Several Russian warships and landing ships were spotted on commercial satellite imagery during the morning hours. The vessels were heading in the direction of Odessa.  The vessel leading the formation of landing ships appears to be minesweeper with her sweeping array deployed. During the evening, around 90 missiles were rep...

  Daily Events February 21 An unidentified Ropucha class  landing vessel was spotted at the Opuk training ground [ 1 ]. February 22 Firefighting vessel PGS-123 operates in an area northwest of Crimea [ 2 ]. Slava class cruiser Moskva and Buyan-M class corvette Grayvoron reportedly departed the naval base of Sevastopol during the morning [ 3 ]. Grigorovich class frigate Admiral Essen conducted an air defense exercise in the Black Sea. The vessel conducted electronic launches of its air defense missile systems during the exercise. Later on, the ship mounted Ka-27PL helicopter was used in flight deck operations. The helicopter performed several take offs and landings while the vessel was stationary and on the move [ 4 ] [ 5 ]. February 23 Yug class hydrographic vessel Donuzlav is reported in the northwestern sector of the Black Sea during the morning. The vessel appears to be collecting meteorologic data [ 6 ]. The vessel reportedly left this area somewhere during the afternoon [...

Task Force Composition As reported by OSINT at the morning of February 26 Weekly Brief Russian naval forces have been converging during the first half of the week with the Northern Fleet Surface Action Group (SAG) moving from the Central towards the Eastern Mediterranean. It is believed that it made contact with the fleet oiler Vyazma near Cyprus where the SAG refueled on February 22.  On February 24, the start of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the Northern Fleet and Pacific Fleet SAGs converged and the entire Russian task force was seen sailing in a large formation back towards Tartus, with the exception of the fleet oiler Vyazma. It is expected that the task force will remain on stand-by at Tartus for the duration of the Russo-Ukrainian war in order to keep capital NATO warships in the Eastern Mediterranean. Daily Events February 19 Slava class cruiser Marshal Ustinov is reported west-southwest of Crete on a course of 295 degrees with a speed of 15.4 knots [ 1 ]. The vessel is travelli...

Fleet Overview Weekly Brief Russian naval forces in the Black Sea spent the week concentrating their amphibious landing capacity and escorting forces in the northern parts of the Black Sea. A large group is concentrated at Lake Donuzlav in the northwestern sector. This group has the carrying capacity of roughly two to three battalion tactical groups. By the end of the week, a second amphibious task group capably of transporting a small battalion has been observed entering the Sea of Azov for exercises. Coastal missile defense systems and naval aviation aircraft spend the week training on how to engage simulated hostile warships operating in the Black Sea. Daily Events February 14 Submarine rescue vessel Kommuna is reported at sea for a special emergency rescue operation. The vessel is training the deployment of the AS-28 deep diving submersible that is used to conduct emergency rescues from submarines in trouble [ 1 ]. An anti-submarine exercise took place with naval aviation and surfa...

Task Force Composition As reported by OSINT at the morning of February 19 Weekly Brief The Russian Navy operated two distinct and independent surface action groups (SAG) during the week. Both SAG was made up of a Slava class cruiser, an Udaloy class destroyer and a frigate. The SAG centered on the Northern Fleet operated mainly near Crete with the Pacific Fleet SAG remained reported near the Syrian coast. Both movements of the SAG suggest that they continue to track NATO carrier groups in the Mediterranean with the Charles de Gaulle operating in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Harry Truman operating in the Adriatic Sea.  Both SAG's allegedly converged in the Eastern Mediterranean on Friday for a large scale naval exercise near the port of Tartus. This exercise also involved the Tu-22M3 strategic bombers and MiG-31K interceptors that were deployed to Khmeimim airbase on February 14. Planned rotations and drawdowns continued with the most notable transit the departure of the Improv...

February 03 Northern Fleet Servicemen of the air assault and reconnaissance formations have started parachute training courses with training being done on ground simulators. The training also involves the design and stowage of parachutes. The training will involve the use of three parachute systems, the D-6, D-10 and Arbalet-2 [ 1 ]. Caspian Flotilla Marines continued their live firing trainings at the Adanak training ground in Dagestan. AK-74s and RPG-7s were used during this exercise [ 2 ]. Pacific Fleet Tanks crews underwent additional training courses on how to operate the recently arrived T-80BV tanks. Officers first took special courses at the Kazan Higher Tank Command Red Banner School. The training of the rest of the crew members was organized in their compounds [ 3 ]. February 04 Pacific Fleet Cadets at the Faculty of the Marine Corps of the Far Eastern Higher Combined Arms Command School (DVOKU) had their so-called run in with tanks. At the Belogorevsky training...

Fleet Overview Weekly Brief A significant build-up of amphibious lift capacity took place with the arrival of five Ropucha class and one Ivan Grenn class landing ship arriving in the Black Sea. These vessel, drawn from the Baltic and Northern Fleets, increases the total lift capacity in the Black Sea to one brigade. Several naval exercises took place with the deployment of several capital vessels such as the Slava class cruiser Moskva. Naval activity increase and culminated on February 12 with a massive naval exercise involved around 30 warships and support vessels. Most support vessels are seen moving along the shorelines of the Crimea. Daily Events February 07 Around 200 members of the 810th NI Brigade were involved in a loading exercise at Cossack Bay, Sevastopol. The marines embarked with over 40 pieces of military hardware, most of the BTR-82As, on board of Ropucha class landing vessel Novocherkassk and Saratov class landing vessel Orsk. Later on, the vessels held an amphibious la...

Task Force Composition As reported by OSINT at the morning of February 12 As reported by OSINT at the morning of February 12 Weekly Brief Drastic changes have taken place in the composition of the Russian task force operating in the Mediterranean. The influx of a second surface action group centered on a Slava class cruiser  is causing a concentration of firepower that has not been seen since 2016. The task force is centered on the cruiser Marshal Ustinov and is escorted by Vice Admiral Kulakov and Admiral Tributs. This task force is steadily been heading east towards the eastern part of the Mediterranean where the Slava class cruiser Varyag is operating near the Syrian naval base of Tartus. Rumors that the Black Sea Fleet Slava class cruiser Moskva is also heading to the Mediterranean are being spread but no official confirmation has yet been received. The six amphibious landing vessels have departed the Mediterranean and headed towards the Black Sea as was expected. Transit throu...