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Thread: Watching Russian Air & Sea Activity

  1. #101
    Council Member davidbfpo's Avatar
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    AdamG,

    The lack of a response could presumably be due to a number of factors, from this "armchair" I'd suggest the weather and that the incursion into the ADIZ was short lived. Plus there's nothing like adding being unpredictable.

    IIRC the UK ADIZ stretches out into the North Sea at least 200 miles and abuts the Norwegian ADIZ.
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  2. #102
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    In yet another sign of looming blowback from the past year of rising tensions between Moscow and the NATO states, a British fishing ship was almost capsized by a suspected Russian submarine at the end of April according to the New York Times.
    The 80-ton trawler was fishing for prawns in international waters in the Irish Sea between Northern Ireland and Britain when an object believed to be a submarine became entangled in the ship's nets. The ensuing moments played out like a Hollywood scene as the submarine began to tow the trawler backwards, The New York Times reports.
    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/suspec...153700477.html
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  3. #103
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    Default Under 'Open Skies': Russian spy plane in British skies

    A confidence building measure:
    Russia is allowed to make two routine reconnaissance flights over Britain each year under the 2002 Open Skies Treaty, which was designed to increase confidence and build bridges after the Cold War. Britain conducted a similar flight over Russia on Saturday and will take part in three others this year.
    Link:http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...ish-skies.html
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  4. #104
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    Russian Navy Su-24 jets forced US Navy destroyer USS Ross to go into neutral waters in the Black Sea, a source in Crimea's security forces told RIA Novosti.

    The US Navy ship was noticed heading directly toward Russian waters after leaving the Romanian port of Costanta. The incident comes on the same day as fugitive Georgian ex-leader Mikheil Saakashvili's appointment as governor of Ukraine's Black Sea-bordering Odessa region.
    Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/201505...#ixzz3bdUMujIH

    Workers laying a cable beneath the Baltic Sea are on the front line in Lithuania's struggle for energy independence from Moscow.

    Their adversary: the Russian Navy.

    No shots have been fired, but construction crews laying the NordBalt cable linking Lithuania and Sweden have received unwelcome visits in the last month from Russian warships probing into the construction area in the Baltic state's exclusive economic zone.

    Frustrated that its diplomatic protests have had no effect, NATO member Lithuania says it will consider legal action if the Russian moves don't stop.
    http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-.../26996165.html
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  5. #105
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    so far the only coverage is Russia news (propaganda), there are plenty of reports of the USS Ross doing an exercise in the Black Sea over the past few days. Could have happened, but wouldn't expect an official U.S. response for at least a few hours if it did.

  6. #106
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    Northern Fleet Commander Adm. Vladimir Korolev said that Russia’s Northern Fleet’s Coastal Forces will receive new Bastion anti-ship missile complexes in 2015.
    Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/201506...#ixzz3bokNXy7A

    Russia's Black Sea fleet is expected to receive two new Project 21631 (Buyan-M) corvettes, Zelenodolsk Shipyard's CEO Renat Mistakhov told RIA Novosti.
    Read more: http://sputniknews.com/military/2015...#ixzz3bokw0saL
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    Something we missed in March. You play this game long enough, you can see the ring of chess pieces Moscow is setting up.

    On March 11, veteran Reuters correspondent David Brunnstrom published an exclusive report that Russian Tu-95MS Bear nuclear-capable strategic bombers, conducting assertive reconnaissance patrols in the airspace near U.S. military bases in Guam, had been refueled by Russian Il-78 tanker aircraft staging out of the military airfield at Cam Ranh Bay on Vietnam’s central coast.

    U.S. officials noted that Russian bomber flights near Guam were part of a global pattern of renewed assertiveness approved by President Vladimir Putin against the U.S. and NATO allies in response to raising tensions over Russian annexation of Crimea, destabilizing activities in Ukraine, and Western punitive sanctions.

    It was also reported that the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi had raised official concerns with Vietnam’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to an anonymous State Department official, “We have urged Vietnamese officials to ensure that Russia is not able to use its access to Cam Ranh Bay to conduct activities that could raise tensions in the region.”
    http://thediplomat.com/2015/03/vietn...sia-crossfire/

    The United States embassy in Hanoi has asked the Vietnamese government to stop permitting Russia to use a military base to refuel its airplanes. The U.S. says Russia has performed what it calls “provocative flights” around the U.S. territory in the Pacific. Officials have not received an answer from the Vietnamese government.
    http://learningenglish.voanews.com/c...y/2677999.html
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  8. #108
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    May 22, 2015 7:01 AM

    China and Russia conducted joint naval exercises this week in the Mediterranean Sea — a sign, some security experts say, that the two countries are stepping up defense cooperation to offset U.S. military primacy.

    The Russian Defense Ministry said a total of 10 warships from the Russian Navy and China’s People's Liberation Army Navy took part in the week-long exercises. The Chinese Defense Ministry said the joint exercises focused on navigation safety, at-sea replenishment, escort missions and live fire exercises.
    http://www.voanews.com/content/are-c...y/2782818.html

    15:41 May 12, 2015 Interfax

    Russian and Chinese naval ships are expected to sail out of the Novorossiysk port and head to the Mediterranean Sea to hold their Joint Sea-2015 maneuvers, on Tuesday, the Russian Defense Ministry has reported.

    "The active phase of the exercises will take place in a certain district of the Mediterranean Sea from May 17 to May 21," the ministry's spokesman for the Navy Captain 1st Rank Igor Dygalo told Interfax-AVN on Tuesday.

    The unit of the Russian Navy and the People's Liberation Army Navy of China includes China's Linyi and the Weifang frigates and the Russian Black Sea Fleet's Samum amphibious ship, he said. They are expected to cross the Black Sea, sail through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles and catch up with other ships participating in the maneuvers in the eastern part of the Mediterranean Sea.
    - http://rbth.com/news/2015/05/12/russ...dri_45923.html)

    Antonov also said he was concerned about stability in the region, naming the US as the main destabilizing factor. He said that Washington's policies have been aimed against Russia and China: "We are concerned by US policies in the region, especially since every day it becomes increasingly focused on a systemic containment of Russia and China."
    http://rt.com/news/263533-rusia-mult...l-navy-drills/
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  9. #109
    Council Member AdamG's Avatar
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    Logistics is a bitch-kitty.

    Moscow's breakup with Ukraine has forced the Russian navy to suspend construction of a variety of next-generation warships, throwing the future of Russia's naval rearmament campaign into question.

    A major part of Russia's communist-era military shipbuilding industry is located in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, but Moscow's support for Ukrainian separatists over the past 18 months has prompted Kiev to curb defense industry trade between the two countries.

    Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Tuesday the disruptions would paralyze Russia's navy construction program: "Due to the termination of supply [of gas turbines from Ukraine], we cannot complete the construction of surface vessels for the navy," he was quoted by news agency TASS as saying.
    РЕКЛАМА

    Russia's shipbuilding industry is working to substitute 186 types of components and equipment, "in particular gas turbine engines," Rogozin said. But until this process is completed, no new surface ship construction projects will be launched and current programs are suspended, he said, news agency RIA Novosti reported.
    http://www.themoscowtimes.com/busine...on/523012.html


    A Russian naval flotilla docked at the Mediterranean port of Alexandria on Saturday for the first time since a Pacific Fleet missile cruiser visited Egypt in 2013.

    The Moskva missile cruiser, the Samum missile hovercraft, an oil tanker and a sea-going tug are in Egypt as part of longstanding cooperation between the two countries’ navies, the press service said in a statement.
    Read more: http://sputniknews.com/russia/201506...#ixzz3cIsjQrVp
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  10. #110
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Moore View Post
    so far the only coverage is Russia news (propaganda), there are plenty of reports of the USS Ross doing an exercise in the Black Sea over the past few days. Could have happened, but wouldn't expect an official U.S. response for at least a few hours if it did.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jno0...ature=youtu.be
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    From the same link.

    USS Ross (DDG 71) observes the overflight by a Russian SU 24 aircraft while both were operating in international waters and airspace. Ross continued on her mission after observing the aircraft return to base. At no time did Ross act aggressively nor did she deviate from her planned operations. The conduct of her crew has been and continues to be professional. Ross' Sailors observed that the SU 24 carried no weapons - wings were "clean."
    A non-event other than in the imagination of Russian propagandists. Thanks for sharing.

  12. #112
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bill Moore View Post
    Thanks for sharing.
    Oh, you're most welcome.

    Like it or not, the Russian propagandists are *winning*.

    Washington needs to up their game.
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    Russian misfire of naval missile today- for Russian Naval Day---

    Good video of the whole event, via @vtchakarova. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4RJ-mS0yAg

    Looks the whole missile assembly came apart during the failed SS-N-14 launch, boosters going their separate ways. pic.twitter.com/4tn93Ww0gH

  14. #114
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    Visiting Kaliningrad Putin confirms the adoption of new naval doctrine w/ more assertiveness in Atlantic & Arctic

    http://goo.gl/5HQYn7

    Russia forgets it signed UNSCR 1612 prohibiting use of child soldiers pic.twitter.com/QXBnVXxyuP http://www.un.org/press/en/2005/sc8458.doc.htmhttps://twitter.com/JulianRoepcke/st...95886297792512

  15. #115
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    http://www.cepa.org/content/militarization-black-sea

    The Militarization of the Black Sea
    Stephen Blank

    July 20, 2015

    By invading Ukraine and annexing Crimea, Russia shattered the belief that war in Europe was inconceivable. Consequently, the entire East European front from the Arctic to the Black Sea is now undergoing serious militarization. Although the invasion of Ukraine has understandably led NATO to concentrate on the Baltic States and Poland; NATO has not ignored the Black Sea and is sending forces to the Balkans and building bases there. Nevertheless, that has not allayed regional anxieties about Russian objectives and policies. And the reason for this anxiety is Russian policy.

    Upon capturing Crimea, Moscow immediately seized all of Ukraine’s energy assets and began an ongoing and steady program of large-scale militarization. Moscow has deployed Iskander missiles in Crimea to threaten both the Balkans and South Caucasus regions. Russia has launched a long-term program to build combined land, sea, air, and air defense forces, whose purposes are to create an anti-access and area denial force (A2AD) against NATO and to conduct power projection into the Balkans as well as the Middle East. At the same time Moscow has shadowed NATO warships whenever they enter the Black Sea and is clearly sending a message that it insists that the Black Sea remain a closed Russian lake except for contingencies where Moscow seeks to project power abroad into the Mediterranean. To achieve that latter goal Russia has sought army bases in Serbia and a naval base at Bar in Montenegro on the Adriatic, and in Cyprus.

    Concurrently, the war in Ukraine and Moscow’s recent veto of a UN resolution calling the Serbian massacre at Srebrenica in 1995 an act of genocide demonstrate that Moscow is still consistently playing the ethnic card throughout the Balkans and Black Sea area to prevent their stabilization as increasingly secure democratic zones. In this context, it is clear to see why the original objective of Putin’s campaign to create a New Russia (Novorossiya) entailed inciting ethnic uprisings and terrorism. By doing so, forces based in Crimea and the Donbass could seize those areas while forces based in Moldova marched the 80 kilometers to Odessa to seize that city and deprive Ukraine of its last port and the means of upholding its independence. And apart from inflaming pre-existing ethnic tensions or stoking new ones, Moscow has long utilized its connections with Russian and Balkan organized crime and key economic sectors like energy and the media to corrupt Balkan politicians, movements, and government institutions.

    Meanwhile, Moscow continues to attempt to subordinate Balkan states with its energy program on a daily basis. The Black Sea pipeline now called Turk Stream would traverse formerly Ukrainian waters and ship 63 billion cubic meters (BCM) annually to Turkey, 47 BCM of which would then enter a pipeline ending at the Greek-Turkish border so that Russia could elude European Union jurisdiction. Moscow’s recent deal to build the next stage of this pipeline, would give Greece billions in tax receipts after the pipeline opens in 2019 and ensure Russian ownership so that the EU cannot interfere, expresses Moscow’s ambitions to fracture EU unity and subordinate Balkan states through their dependence upon energy imports. Similarly, hints from the new BRICS Bank that Greece could get debt relief show that Moscow is employing every instrument of power, whether economic or military, that it possesses to regain its influence in the Balkan and Black Sea areas, intimidate local governments into surrendering to its agenda, and undermine European integration.

    Therefore, the EU and NATO cannot allow the Black Sea to become a closed Russian lake or let Russian threats, whether they occur in energy projects or in military force, go unanswered. Just as we need a coherent strategy for Ukraine we need an equally compelling multi-dimensional strategy for the Balkans. And as Greece shows, we need it now, not tomorrow or the day after.

  16. #116
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    Russian mini sub found sunk in Swedish waters by Ocean X------

    Abandoned foreign midget submarine discovered in Swedish waters. http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/fram...venskt-vatten/

    Divers report cyrillic leters on hull. Appears to be in good condition with minimal damage, 20 meters long

    Some screengrabs from stream at http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/fram...venskt-vatten/

    Ocean X found the sub not the Swedish Navy
    oceanexplorer.se/
    for a news release in english

    Some say the crew might still be in the sub and dead.

  17. #117
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    Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
    Russian mini sub found sunk in Swedish waters by Ocean X------

    Abandoned foreign midget submarine discovered in Swedish waters. http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/fram...venskt-vatten/

    Divers report cyrillic leters on hull. Appears to be in good condition with minimal damage, 20 meters long

    Some screengrabs from stream at http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/fram...venskt-vatten/

    Ocean X found the sub not the Swedish Navy
    oceanexplorer.se/
    for a news release in english

    Some say the crew might still be in the sub and dead.
    Press release on the sunken "Russian Sub" in the Swedish territorial waters
    by @OcanXteam pic.twitter.com/7SFNaYsaE6

    27 July: A Russian mini-submarine has been discovered in Sweden's territorial waters not far from the Swedish coast http://www.oceanexplorer.se

    Video: A mini-sub has been found in Swedish waters - the crew are presumed to have perished inside http://www.expressen.se/tv/nyheter/i...venskt-vatten/ … via

    Ocean X: "We fear that the crew has not been able to save themselves when the sub went down, submarine is intact"
    http://freebeacon.com/national-secur...swedens-coast/ …?
    Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 07-27-2015 at 07:42 PM.

  18. #118
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    Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
    Press release on the sunken "Russian Sub" in the Swedish territorial waters
    by @OcanXteam pic.twitter.com/7SFNaYsaE6

    27 July: A Russian mini-submarine has been discovered in Sweden's territorial waters not far from the Swedish coast http://www.oceanexplorer.se

    Video: A mini-sub has been found in Swedish waters - the crew are presumed to have perished inside http://www.expressen.se/tv/nyheter/i...venskt-vatten/ … via

    Ocean X: "We fear that the crew has not been able to save themselves when the sub went down, submarine is intact"
    http://freebeacon.com/national-secur...swedens-coast/ …?
    AND now intelligence collection kicks in--it is being reported today that the discovered sunken sub "might" be a Russian sub from 1916 that supposedly was hit by a Swedish freighter and sunk in 1916---

    BUT what is strange is the video does not depict a "standard sub form even from 1916" but rather one of a "typical research submersible" used by Russain intel gathering.

    Secondly, the only released video does not depict a "1916 damaged sub meaning physically hit by a freighter" covered in over 100 years worth of silt as it was found in a fairly normal current areas which would have been carrying silt and there was no ocean "growth" on the metal parts in the video depicting over 100 years of being in the ocean.

    Thirdly, the salvage crew had a long remote recon session a number of times but only a short video was played AND in their interview they openly stated and it was not contradicted "there was no apparent damage to the sub and it was intact and was approximately 20 meters long"--certainly not the standard length of a 1916 sub.

    So how can a 1916 struck by a freighter and sunk Russian sub NOT have "no apparent damage and being intact". Beside in 1916 what was a Russian sub doing in Swedish territorial waters anyway?

    AND they informed the Swedish Navy of the find last Wednesday and the information was leaked yesterday--if a "damaged 1916 sub" why the long wait to reveal it?

    Fourthly, if in fact a Russian modern recon/spy sub and it is intact THEN the intel wealth of that sub is massive and extensive.

    Am personally betting that they are using a cover story now to allow for the ship to be recovered and not have to answer to Russian demands to return the ship and potential dead crew. So the 1916 sub becomes the story and then we will hear there is no need to recover it and it will be left as a naval burial site and so marked in the Baltic maps much as other naval sinkings are being handled from WW2.

    If it was truly announced that it is a recon/spy sub and publicly recovered then Russia could in fact legally demand it's return and the formal burial of the crew AND Russia under Putin would back those demands by an aggressive show of force to back up their demands as they have been doing for over a year in the entire Baltic Sea area.
    Last edited by OUTLAW 09; 07-28-2015 at 09:29 AM.

  19. #119
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    Quote Originally Posted by OUTLAW 09 View Post
    AND now intelligence collection kicks in--it is being reported today that the discovered sunken sub "might" be a Russian sub from 1916 that supposedly was hit by a Swedish freighter and sunk in 1916---

    BUT what is strange is the video does not depict a "standard sub form even from 1916" but rather one of a "typical research submersible" used by Russain intel gathering.

    Secondly, the only released video does not depict a "1916 damaged sub meaning physically hit by a freighter" covered in over 100 years worth of silt as it was found in a fairly normal current areas which would have been carrying silt and there was no ocean "growth" on the metal parts in the video depicting over 100 years of being in the ocean.

    Thirdly, the salvage crew had a long remote recon session a number of times but only a short video was played AND in their interview they openly stated and it was not contradicted "there was no apparent damage to the sub and it was intact and was approximately 20 meters long"--certainly not the standard length of a 1916 sub.

    So how can a 1916 struck by a freighter and sunk Russian sub NOT have "no apparent damage and being intact". Beside in 1916 what was a Russian sub doing in Swedish territorial waters anyway?

    AND they informed the Swedish Navy of the find last Wednesday and the information was leaked yesterday--if a "damaged 1916 sub" why the long wait to reveal it?

    Fourthly, if in fact a Russian modern recon/spy sub and it is intact THEN the intel wealth of that sub is massive and extensive.

    Am personally betting that they are using a cover story now to allow for the ship to be recovered and not have to answer to Russian demands to return the ship and potential dead crew. So the 1916 sub becomes the story and then we will hear there is no need to recover it and it will be left as a naval burial site and so marked in the Baltic maps much as other naval sinkings are being handled from WW2.

    If it was truly announced that it is a recon/spy sub and publicly recovered then Russia could in fact legally demand it's return and the formal burial of the crew AND Russia under Putin would back those demands by an aggressive show of force to back up their demands as they have been doing for over a year in the entire Baltic Sea area.
    A number of odd items about the so called 1916 Russian sub--she was evidently lost on a daily patrol meaning out in the morning back in the evening--so really a four hour jaunt in one direction at the speed in those days of 6 to 8knots.

    Russian accounts do not reflect those patrols as being in Swedish waters basically an neutral country in 1916.

    Secondly today the Swedish Navy had a combat patrol vessel anchored near the site.

    This TASS press release from today is interesting as it appears that the Russians want it declared a mass burial site to be protected and not raised.

    If I were the Russian GRU I would be dying to get divers onto the wreck.

    1. this area was one of the areas recently intensively searched in 2014 by the Swedish Navy

    2. a "so called Russian ocean research/recovery ship" was parked in the Baltic for a number of days during that search phase for a number of days and then left for Kaliningrad.

    3. notice the Ocean X did not want to deny or confirm the 1916 sub theory


    MOSCOW, July 28. /TASS/. Russian search and rescue workers will offer any conceivable assistance to their Scandinavian counterparts in gathering information that might provide clues to the fate of a submarine wreck just discovered off Sweden, the head of the expedition Respects to Great Victory’s Ships, Konstantin Bogdanov, told TASS on Tuesday.

    Earlier, Sweden’s divers from the Ocean X-team said they had spotted the wreck of a foreign submarine bearing Cyrillic letters on the hull. Scandinavian experts are still uncertain about the date when the submarine was lost. Some speculate that the sub in question is Russia’s The Som, which sank in 1916.

    "According to the photos available it looks pretty much like The Som submarine, which sank in 1916 following a collision with a surface ship, but further inquiries are still to confirm that. At this point there is no information about the depth of the sea in the area where the submarine was found. The depth permitting, it might be possible to obtain clearer images and declare the site as a mass grave," Bogdanov said.

    He speculated it might be possible to arrange for a joint ceremony to dispatch ships to the sight and hold a funeral service there.

    "That’s a question of good will and of cooperation by the two countries. If the issue on the agenda is to commemorate people who perished nearly one hundred years ago, there is no politics involved. We are prepared for a joint expedition and will soon try to contact the Swedish side," Bogdanov said.

    He recalled that Russian divers had a certain record of such joint expeditions in cooperation with partners in Bulgaria, Estonia, and Finland. In cooperation with Bulgaria Russian specialists identified the Russian destroyer The Lieutenant Pushchin, which sank during World War I. A while later a memorial service was conducted on the site and divers attached a memorial plaque with the names of all crew to the ship’s hull.

    The Som-class mini-submarines (replicas of the US submarine Fulton) was a series of Russian submarines build in 1904-1906. The first one, which lent its name to the whole series, was built in the United States in 1901 and handed over to Russia. According to witnesses in May 1916 The Som sank after collision with a Swedish ship.

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    http://www.themoscowtimes.com/busine...to/526277.html

    New Russian Naval Doctrine Enshrines Confrontation With NATO

    By Matthew Bodner

    Jul. 27 2015 21:19

    While the new doctrine is ambitious, Russia may find it difficult to enact.

    President Vladimir Putin on Sunday approved amendments to Russia’s naval doctrine that prioritize the development of Russian positions in strategic seas around the world, according to the Kremlin website.

    The updated doctrine takes advantage of a huge injection of funds into Russia's naval strength to shift the emphasis of Russian naval operations toward so-called blue water operations — deployments of naval force far beyond Russian coastal waters into the world’s oceans, with a focus on the Atlantic and Mediterranean.

    By focusing on the Atlantic, the amended doctrine asserts the Russian navy’s role as a countering force to what military planners in Moscow see as an encroaching NATO military alliance on Russian borders and interests.

    Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who oversees the defense industry, presented the updated doctrine to Putin on Sunday and cited two reasons for the update: “above all, the changing international situation; and, of course, strengthening Russia’s position as a sea power,” according to remarks posted on the Kremlin website.

    President Putin praised the revised doctrine, calling it a vital strategic document “to provide our country with an integral, consistent naval policy that will protect Russia’s interests.”

    Retired Russian Navy Commander Maxim Shepovalenko, a military expert at the Center for the Analysis of Strategies and Technologies (CAST), a Moscow-based defense think tank, said the doctrine indicates Russia was preparing for prolonged confrontation with the West.

    “Its updated version [signifies] a long-term standoff with the U.S. and its NATO and major non-NATO allies,” he said.

    Atlantic Pivot

    Speaking aboard a new Russian navy frigate during Navy Day celebrations in the Baltic enclave of Kaliningrad, Rogozin said the decision to expand Russian naval activity in the Atlantic Ocean was a response to heightened tensions with NATO since the start of the Ukraine crisis.

    That crisis, which began after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine last year, led a revitalized NATO to relocate equipment and stage war games close to Russian borders.

    “We emphasize the Atlantic because NATO has been developing actively of late and coming closer to our borders, and Russia is of course responding to these developments,” Rogozin said, according to the Kremlin website.

    According to Shepovalenko, this change in emphasis abandons the balanced global posture held by the Russian navy in recent years in favor of a biased one that is “assertive in the West [Atlantic Ocean] and in the North, and cooperative in the East and the South,” he said. The updated doctrine has provisions for greater coordination with the Chinese and Indian navies, he added.

    To effectively project force into the Atlantic would require Russia to push ahead with the militarization of the Arctic, Rogozin said. Russian military planners see the Arctic as a key access point for Russia’s northern fleet to enter the Atlantic unimpeded by NATO.

    Russia’s Baltic and Black Sea forces are separated from the Atlantic by NATO countries and fleets. The ships of the Baltic Fleet, based in Kaliningrad, must pass by Germany and Denmark through the Kattegat Sea, while the Black Sea Fleet, based in Crimea, has to navigate the Turkish Bosphorus.

    This heightens the Arctic’s strategic importance, because control over it would give Russia’s Northern Fleet — the largest of all four major Russian fleets — “free and unhindered access to the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,” Rogozin told Putin.

    Rogozin also said the naval doctrine was important to aid Moscow's economic aims in the Arctic, which has huge oil and gas reserves and is a potential future shipping route.

    Limited Assets


    While the new doctrine is ambitious, Russia may find it difficult to enact.

    Russian ships already have a presence in the Atlantic Ocean, and it is hard to imagine how their strength could be elevated. Ships like the Northern Fleet flagship — the Soviet-built Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier — patrol the Atlantic accompanied by the handful of Russian naval vessels capable of blue water operations far from Russian shores, such as the Black Sea Fleet’s Moskva heavy cruiser. Not much more is available.

    Though an effective blue-water force during the Cold War, Russia’s naval inventory can no longer support long-range oceangoing operations and in recent years has mostly functioned as a coastal defense force.

    “Of Russia’s over 215 surface ships, only a quarter of them are capable of blue-water operations, while the remaining are primarily meant for littoral [close to home] operations,” Shepovalenko said.

    New ships such as large destroyers designed for oceangoing deployments are not yet under construction, and are not expected until the mid- to late-2020s.

    Russia’s navy is expecting almost 100 ships by 2020, but the majority of them are small vessels like frigates, corvettes and patrol boats.

    This means that Russia will struggle to fulfill its new doctrine until it begins building bigger ships, and no change in shipbuilding plans has been announced.

    “New missions require new ships, and no new ships equals no new missions,” Shepovalenko said.

    Black Sea Reversal


    The new doctrine also aims to reverse the decline of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

    Headquartered in the Crimean city of Sevastopol, the Black Sea Fleet was one of Russia’s most withered when Russia annexed Crimea in March 2014.

    A basing agreement with Kiev prevented Moscow from adding new ships to the force, but freed from that constraint the Defense Ministry last year deployed over 10 new ships to the Black Sea Fleet and is planning to use it as the foundation of a permanent Mediterranean flotilla, Rogozin said.

    Taken as a whole, the updated naval doctrine has a strong focus on reversing the navy’s gradual decline in the years since the fall of the Soviet Union, when lack of funds saw many ships tied up in port, rusting away for years, and Russia’s ability to pursue strategic objectives on the high sees eroded.

    To achieve this, the doctrine goes beyond naming areas of strategic interest for the Russian navy, and adds all-new sections on shipbuilding and social support for sailors.

    Rogozin said that Russia over the last 10-15 years has developed a domestic shipbuilding industry that “in terms of naval shipbuilding is doing work on a scale comparable to what was happening during the Soviet period.”

    According to Putin, the addition of shipbuilding provisions to Russian naval doctrine “is a big event for our future navy, and for developing our shipbuilding industry, because the main customer — the navy in this case, and the Defense Ministry — formulate their future needs, and the industry must carry out these tasks.”

    Putin also said that for the first time the doctrine includes provisions for improving the health care given to Russian sailors.

    “People need to know that from now on, our strategic documents for developing our country’s fleet and navy will address the social aspect too, and will give people what they expect from their service,” Putin said.

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