Russian forces in the Mediterranean - Wk25/2022

Task Force Composition

As reported by OSINT at the morning of Jun 24


Weekly Brief

The Russian task force in the Mediterranean has eased its combat stance with only one surface action group operating at sea by the end of the week and a second one being stationed at the Syrian port of Tartus. Observation of the vessels at Tartus suggest that the SAG group anchored at Tartus is the one of the Pacific Fleet, based on the absence of the Northern Fleet's frigate Admiral Kasatonov and the presence of the Pacific Fleet's oiler Boris Butoma.

Daily Events

June 18
The AIS signal of fleet oiler Vyazma was last reported southeast of Cyprus. The vessel departed the port of Tartus on June 16th and is on a course of 244 degrees with a speed of 10.7 knots.


June 21
Fleet oiler Vyazma was observed at 0910Z on commercial satellite imagery operating south of Crete. The oiler was sailing in front of a Slava class cruiser indicating that she was refueling the cruiser from the stern. The identity of the cruiser was not confirmed but is speculated to be the Varyag of the Pacific Fleet [1].

June 24
Several Russian warships were observed on satellite imagery of the Syrian port of Tartus. These vessels included one Improved Kilo class submarine, PM-82 Amur class repair vessel, an unidentified Udaloy class destroyer, the admiral Grigorovich class frigate Admiral Grigorovich, Buyan-M class corvette Orekhovo-Zuyevo, Aleksandrit class minesweeper Vladimir Emelyanov and rescue tug Sergei Balk [2].
Several other vessels were reported at anchor outside the port, these included an unidentified Slava class cruiser, logistic support vessel Vice-Admiral Paromov and fleet oiler Boris Butoma [3].

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