The Russian presence in the Mediterranean is (further) downsized

There is a black hole in the Mediterranean and this black hole is Suez.

Frederik Van Lokeren’s tweet thus sums up the fact that one of the two “gates” of the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal, is not ‘manned’ by OSINT watchers and therefore represents a passage that often remains uncovered (Gibraltar, on the other hand, does not have this problem).

The news, which has gone unnoticed until now by the OSINT community, is that Slava class cruiser Varyag and Udaloy class destroyer Admiral Tributs, the two largest units of the Russian Navy operating in the Mediterranean Sea, are reported south of Sri Lanka.

The two ships reportedly left the Mediterranean via Suez at least a week ago without anyone noticing until now.

The news is not a minor one as at this point the Russian Navy has only two more major units in the Mediterranean, the frigates Admiral Flota Kasatonov and Admiral Grigorovich. Completing the fleet are three corvettes, a minesweeper and two submarines (one nuclear).

A sharp downsizing compared to just over two months ago when two cruisers, two destroyers and two frigates were present as major units.