Russian forces in the Mediterranean - Wk17/2023

Task Force Composition

As reported by OSINT at the morning of Apr-29

Weekly Brief

A significant reduction in the amount of warships and firepower deployed was observed during this week. The departure of both Steregushchy class corvettes and the frigate Admiral Grigorovich have decreased the task fore by half. As such, the remaining vessels from a level of deployment last noticed during February 2021 and thus resemble a Russian deployment during peace times.

The departure of the Admiral Grigorovich has been speculated for a long time. The vessel has been deployed to the Mediterranean since October 28th, 2021 and has been on station for over a year and a half now. 
The closure of the Turkish Straits prevented the vessel from heading back into the Black Sea and conduct repairs and maintenance in the main naval bases at Sevastopol and Novorossiysk. The frigate is now expected to sail back to the Baltic Sea and have its repairs and maintenance done at the Yantar Shipyard in the Kaliningrad Region. This shipyard constructed all three Grigorovich class frigates.

As for the remaining vessels, it remains unclear if the current level op deployed warships will remain the new norm. So far, the Russian Ministry of Defense did not commented on sending new vessels to the Mediterranean. Speculation within the OSINT community suggests that the Udaloy class destroyer Admiral Levchenko of the Northern Fleet is the most likely candidate to be send to the Mediterranean. This assessment is based on the recent training level and deployment of the destroyer.

Daily Events

April 22
A group of four warships passed Europa Point at the Strait of Gibraltar and headed towards the Atlantic Ocean. These vessels were visually identified as the frigate Admiral Grigorovich, the Steregushchy class corvettes Stoiky and Soobrazitelny [1] as well as the fleet oiler Kama [2].

Satellite imagery of the port of Tartus showed several Russian warships inside the harbor. These were identified as the Improved Kilo class submarine Krasnodar, the Buyan-M class corvette Orekhovo-Zuyevo, the Aleksandrit class minehunter Vladimir Emelyanov, the fleet oiler Kola and the intelligence collection vessel Yuri Ivanov [3].

April 25
Satellite imagery of the port of Tartus showed at least three vessels present inside the port. These were identified as the frigate Admiral Gorshkov, the Buyan-M class corvette Orekhovo-Zuyevo and the fleet oiler Kola [4]. Bad resolution and overcast clouds did not allow to verify if other vessels were present inside the port.

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