Russian Navy - News and Analysis

Task Force Composition As reported by OSINT at the morning of Sep-30 Weekly Brief Steregushchy class corvette Merkury completed a maritime escort mission by escorting the oiler Yaz and weapons runner Ursa Major from Tartus towards the Turkish Straits. Moma class intelligence collection vessel Kildin was not observed near Tartus. The vessel is most likely on an independent patrol monitoring NATO warships. The remainder of the task force most likely remained in port during the week. Daily Events September 25 Satellite imagery of the port of Tartus revealed several warships moored inside the harbor. These were identified as the Improved Kilo class submarine Krasnodar, the Buyan-M class corvette Orekhovo-Zuyevo, fleet oiler Yelnya, Amur class repair vessel PM-82 and the sea going tug Sergey Balk [ 1 ]. September 27 Civilian oiler Yaz and weapons runner Ursa Major were observed being escorted by Steregushchy class corvette Merkury. All three vessels were spotted 31km east by northeast of th...

  Daily Events September 18 Pacific Fleet The Pacific Fleet launched the Finval-2023 exercise which will take place in the Chukchi and Bering Seas, as well as on the Chukotka Peninsula. The exercise is led by the Chief of the Russian Navy, Admiral N. Yevmenov and is aimed to protect communications along the Northern Sea Route [ 1 ]. The first part of the Finval Exercise was focused on defeating a simulated group of hostile warships in the northeastern part of the Bering Strait. Slava class missile cruiser Varyag, the Oscar II attack submarine Tomsk and Bastion coastal missile batteries took part in this drill. Each unit was observed launching at least one missile against the simulated group. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, all missiles struck their assigned targets [ 2 ]. The Varyag launched a P-1000 Vulcan missile [ 3 ], the Tomsk launched a Granit anti-ship missile [ 4 ] and the Bastion coastal missile battery launched an Onyx cruise missile [ 5 ]. The Finval e...

Task Force Composition As reported by OSINT at the morning of Sep-16 Weekly Brief Little reporting regarding the task force was done during the week. It does appear that the task force has now entered a period of low naval activity.  Steregushchy class corvette Merkury could be heading into the Aegean Sea to provide escort for tanker Yaz and a Russian weapon runner heading towards Tartus. Daily Events September 13 Satellite imagery of the port of Tartus revealed several warships moored inside the harbor. These vessels were identified as the Improved Kilo class submarine Krasnodar, the Buyan-M class corvette Orekhovo-Zuyevo, fleet oiler Yelnya, repair vessel PM-82, rescue tug Sergey Balk and intelligence collection vessel Kildin [ 1 ].

Task Force Composition As reported by OSINT at the morning of Sep-09 Weekly Brief Drastic reductions on combat power took place during this week with the departure of the Admiral Gorshkov and fleet oiler Vyazma. Both vessels completed their rotation in the Mediterranean which was sheduled to end by the end of August so their departure is routine. The Admiral Gorshkov however could have been equipped with Zircon missiles, so her departure removes the probability that Zircon missiles were deployed in the Mediterranean.  The role of the Admiral Gorshkov is now taken over by the Steregushchy class corvette Merkury. Aleksandrit class minehunter Vladimir Emelyanov departed the Mediterranean under escort by the support vessel Vice-Admiral Paromov. The Emelyanov has been present in the Mediterranean since January 2022. There is a high possibility that the vessel is in dire need of maintenance. With the Turkish Straits closed, the vessel will now most likely head towards the Baltic Fleet fo...