FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
On the night between Sunday, July 7 and Monday, July 8, a small Russian naval convoy passed the Strait of Sicily heading east, attracting the attention of military observers. The group consisted of the cargo ship Sparta, the tanker General Skobelev and the missile corvette Boiky, belonging to the Steregushchiy class, ships designed by the Almaz Central Naval Design Bureau and built since the early 2000s at shipyards in St. Petersburg and Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
According to Itamilradar, the flotilla entered the Mediterranean at 22:27 on Monday, making a subsequent refueling stop between 5:00 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. on the Moroccan coast, most likely with the assistance of the Russian tanker Vyazma. Although all the ships officially indicated Port Said, Egypt, as their official destination, analysts believe that it is more likely that they were headed for the Syrian port of Tartus. Russia no longer has a permanent naval base there and relies on temporary anchorages and offshore refueling operations. It is in this context that the nickname “Syrian Express” was born, attributed to these sea voyages used for the regular transport of military materials and supplies between Russia and Syria, especially in recent months.
This morning, in response to the convoy's movement, an Italian Air Force ATR P-72A aircraft (registration MM62281) took off from Sigonella base for a maritime surveillance mission. The aircraft had already monitored the presence of Russian ships in the Mediterranean in the previous days, a sign of NATO's growing attention to Moscow's naval activities in the basin. As can be seen on the map, the Russian fleet also passed near Albania.
Lini një Përgjigje