After the “incident” involving the Russian ship Ursa Major, which sank south of Spain on December 24th, the journey eastward of the Russian flotilla that entered the Mediterranean last week continues.
Currently, three ships are approaching the Strait of Sicily:
- The cargo vessel Sparta (officially en route to Port Said but potentially heading toward Syria)
- Two Russian Navy landing ships, Ivan Gren and Aleksandr Otrakovskiy, both seemingly headed to Syria to transport military equipment as part of Russia’s withdrawal from the region.
The flotilla has not gone unnoticed by NATO countries. This afternoon, an Italian Air Force ATR P-72A (registration MM62280) took off from Sigonella Air Base and performed a low-altitude flyover of the Russian ships as they sailed north of Bizerte, Tunisia.
It is highly likely that similar reconnaissance missions will occur in the coming days.
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