There is any news about Russian activities in the Mediterranean. Currently, the only unit we can track is the tanker Vice Admiral Paromov, which is continuing its journey westward. We know that on August 25, a second tanker, the Vyazma, also left Tartus, but it turned off its AIS shortly after departure (the last signal dates back to August 25 at 10:44, when it was just off the coast of Syria, heading west at about 10 knots).
We also know that two other units are not present in Tartus, namely the minesweeper Vladimir Emelyanov, and most importantly, the frigate Admiral Gorshkov. We don’t know when these two units left, but it’s highly possible that they left the Syrian port together with the two tankers.
The interesting thing is that according to the Russian Ministry of Defense, the Admiral Gorshkov was supposed to remain in the Mediterranean until August. Therefore, if there are no updates, it’s possible that the ship is returning to Russia along with one of the two tankers. However, we don’t know whether the Vladimir Emelyanov is also returning home.
At the moment, we don’t have confirmation that thecorvette, the Merkuriy, is also in the Mediterranean (it was supposed to have entered last week). If that were the case, it could indicate a rotation of forces (though we remain cautious about this point).
The corvette Mercuriy have entered the Mediterranean last week and now is moored in an Algerian port.
Lastly, the tanker Yenya and the spy ship Kildin are said to have arrived in Tartus (or are about to arrive).