The Russian ship Sparta continues her journey (with some oddities)

The Russian cargo ship Sparta continues its eastward journey. Currently, the vessel is located in the central Mediterranean, sailing north at approximately 6 knots after abruptly changing course in the last few hours initially, she was heading southeast, seemingly towards the Libyan port of Benghazi.

The reason for this course change remains unknown, but naturally, it draws attention following the incident involving the second ship of the convoy, the Ursa Major.

Interestingly, the Sparta no longer lists Port Said as its destination, as it did earlier this morning, now displaying the generic status “for orders.” This practice of indicating a false destination has been observed before with Russian ships later bound for Syria, which is likely the case here.

🌍Central Mediterranean sea
Sparta russian ro-ro cargo case: update position.

🚢#Sparta 🇷🇺
🛰️ AIS SAT data out
🪧 Destination status "for orders"
🗓️ 2024-12-28
⏱️ 10:55 UTC
⏱️ 11:55 CET
🧭 Heading 184° SW #RussianNavy #LibyanExpress #SyrianExpress #Libya #Libia #Syria #Siria… pic.twitter.com/V8buSHNtdr

— Sergio Scandura (@scandura) December 28, 2024

It is unclear whether the Sparta is still traveling in formation with two other Russian military ships, the Ivan Gren and Aleksandr Otrakovskiy. Both vessels appear to be heading to Syria to transport military equipment, possibly as part of Russia’s withdrawal from the region.