Russian Navy - News and Analysis

Northern Fleet February 26 Two IL-38 aircraft trained over the Barents Sea on how to detect hostile submarines [ 1 ]. February 27 Frigate Admiral Gorshkov entered the Barents Sea for a series of combat exercises including anti-submarine warfare, air defense and damage control. The anti-submarine exercise involves several nuclear submarines [ 6 ]. February 28 Landing vessel Ivan Grenn has left port for a series of navigation exercises in the Barents Sea [ 12 ]. February 29 Frigate Admiral Kasatonov entered the Barents Sea for a series of exercises which include air defense, anti-submarine warfare and damage control [ 18 ]. March 01 Frigate Admiral Gorshkov completed several exercises including ant-submarine warfare and air defense [ 19 ]. Baltic Fleet February 26 Landing craft Michman Lermontov and D-67 took part in several combat exercises including transferring equipment in landing beaches and firing against surface and air targets while moving at high speeds [ 2 ]. Corvettes Odintsov

Task Force Composition As reported by OSINT at the morning of Feb-24 Weekly Sitrep Low reporting on the Russian task force continues. Satellite imagery confirmed that the majority of the task force remains in port with only the corvette Merkury and intelligence collection vessel Kidlin missing from the port. Two cargo vessels, the Matros Koshka & Mikhail Nenashev were observed in port unloading grain that Russia stole from Ukraine [ a ]. The Matros Koska passed through the Bosporus on February 16th [b]. IT is unclear from OSINT sources if Russia provided a military escort for these two vessels [ b ]. Daily Events February 22 Satellite imagery of the port of Tartus confirmed the presence of frigate Admiral Grigorovich, Improved Kilo class submarine Ufa, Buyan-M class corvette Orekhovo-Zuyevo and fleet oiler Kama [ 1 ].

Northern Fleet February 19 Russian sources report that nuclear submarines trained in underwater duels at depths beyond 100 meters. The submarines trained in detecting and tracking each other as well as moving into attack positions and training to evade counter-attacks. Il-38 maritime patrol craft were also involved in the exercise [ 3 ]. Baltic Fleet February 19 Frigate Neustrashimmy and corvette Boiky held an anti-submarine exercise in the Baltic Sea which involved detecting a simulated enemy submarine and launching torpedo's against it [ 2 ]. February 20 Karakurt class corvette Burya launched missiles of her "Pantsir-M" complex against a simulated target as part of her state trails. The test took place off Cape Taran near Kaliningrad [ 7 ]. February 21 Frigate Neustrashimmy and corvette Boiky held a combat exercise defending themselves against UAVs and USVs. Frigate Neustrashimmy later on practiced flight-deck operations with a Ka-27 helicopter [ 6 ]. Buyan-M class corv

Northern Fleet February 12 Ropucha class landing ship Alexander Otrakovsky held an amphibious landing exercise at the naval landing training in Gryaznaya Bay of the Kola Bay [ 3 ]. February 13 Rescue submarine AS-34, and its support vessel Mikhail Rudnitsky executed training dives in the Kola Bay [ 4 ]. February 14 Ropucha class landing ship Alexander Otrakovsky held several exercise in the Kola bay, including a gunnery exercise against ground and sea targets, an air defense exercise and a minelaying exercise [ 8 ]. Baltic Fleet February 14 Ropucha class landing ship Aleksander Shabalin started factory sea trails following a period of repair and maintenance [ 13 ]. February 15 Intelligence collection vessel Vasiliy Tatishchev allegedly arrived at the port of Baltiysk following a deployment in the North Sea [ 11 ]. Pacific Fleet February 12 Slava class cruiser Varyag and Udaloy class frigate Marshal Shaposhnikov completed an air defense exercise in the South China Sea [ 1 ]. Tarantul cl

Task Force Composition As reported by OSINT at the morning of Feb-10 Weekly Brief Weapons runner Ursa Major is still present at Tartus, having arrived there in Week-04. It does not appear that the vessel has done a round trip towards Southern Russia and back suggesting that the transfer of weapons and military material between Syria and Russia is taking a longer then usually observed time. Admiral Grigorovich was observed underway outside of Tartus though unknown if the vessel is patrolling the Syrian coastline or heading out deeper in the Eastern Mediterranean to keep track of NATO vessels. Daily Events February 9 Satellite imagery of the port of Tartus revealed the presence of the Improved Kilo class submarine Ufa, the corvettes Merkury and Orekhovo-Zuyevo as well as the fleet oiler Kama and weapons runner Ursa Major. Frigate Admiral Grigorovich was observed underway near the anchorage [ 1 ].

Northern Fleet February 5 Frigate Admiral Kasatonov departed Severomorsk and entered the Barents Sea to take part in combat training exercises [ 5 ]. February 6 Two Tu-160 strategic bombers completed a ten-hour flight over the Artic Ocean and Laptev Sea [ 8 ]. 15 Su-33 carrier-based fighters, Su-30SM multirole fighters and Su-25 UTG training aircraft were involved in air-to-air combat training exercise over the Kola Peninsula [ 9 ]. Frigate Admiral Kasatonov conducted artillery firing exercises against costal targets on the Barents Sea [ 11 ]. Lada class submarine Kronstadt was reported back at the Admirality shipyard for furhter outfitting, six days after being commissioned [ 13 ]. February 7 Frigate Admiral Kasatonov conducted gunnery and air-defense exercises in the Barents Sea [ 11 ]. Nanuchka class corvette Rassvet entered the Barents Sea to conduct combat exercises as part of the K-2 training course of the crew [ 12 ]. February 8 Grisha class corvette Brest of the Kola Peninsula