What is happening off the coast of Sicily?

It has now been almost a week that the Russian Navy tug MB-119 Jakob Grebelsky has been stationary southeast of Sicily. The tug had been sailing together with the submarine Novorossiysk after spending several weeks in the Eastern Mediterranean and seemed to be on its way back to Russia. For the moment, however, that no longer appears to be the case.

Since Russia no longer has permanent bases in the Mediterranean after losing the port of Tartus in Syria, it has been forced to rely on auxiliary ships as support platforms for its submarines. This is precisely the role played by the tug MB-119 Jakob Grebelsky, which remained for a long time off the Syrian coast and later off Alexandria, Egypt.

Now, for the past six days, the tug has been stationary off Sicily, suggesting that the submarine Novorossiysk may currently be engaged in a mission somewhere in the Central Mediterranean.

The situation remains unclear, but this morning two NATO assets departed from Sigonella to take a closer look at the Russian tug: a USN Boeing P-8A and an Italian Air Force ATR P-72A (reg. MM62280) carried out several low-to-medium altitude passes over the tug’s last reported position (recorded about eight hours earlier).

The question now is whether the tug and the submarine are still together—and if not, where exactly the Novorossiysk might be operating.

Also south of Sicily, a Canadian Navy frigate, HMCS St. John’s, a Halifax-class unit, is operating in these hours. Although the ship itself cannot be directly tracked, its position can be inferred from that of her embarked helicopter, a Sikorsky CH-148 Cyclone (reg. 148811).