The Russian Navy is Reestablishing its Mediterranean Base in Syria
For several months now, the sole Russian warship in the Mediterranean has been the Steregushchiy Class corvette RFS Stoykiy (F545), last identified docked in Tartus in April. The behavior of the Stoykiy has in itself been significant. After passing through the English Channel in late November, circumnavigating Africa, participating in Exercise Mosi-26 in Cape Town in early January, it made a port call in the Seychelles. It then made an overnight stop in Bandar Abbas, probably to honor a commitment to participate in Exercise Maritime Security Belt 2026, for which the Chinese 48th Flotilla did not turn up.
The Stoykiy then immediately headed up the Red Sea and through the Suez Canal, and has been loitering off Tartus since then - maintaining the Russian presence in the Mediterranean rather than heading home, as one might expect after such a long cruise. For some time now, Russian naval trips into Tartus can be characterized as port calls, rather than an exercise of basing rights. But contrary to this notion, the Stoykiy has often in recent weeks been tied up on the wharfs previously reserved for the Russian Mediterranean Flotilla since the Soviet Union first signed a defense cooperation agreement with Syria in 1971, and which was revived by Russia in 2013. The coming to power of the HTS government in Syria in December 2024, appears to have put the agreement into suspended animation, but it may have been revived once again now that the last US troops left Syria in mid-April.
This notion is given some legs by the movement of a substantial Russian logistics convoy, escorted by the Gorshkov Class frigate Admiral Kasatonov (F461). The convoy consists of three sanctioned vessels, often involved in arms shipments and resupply activities: the product tanker General Skobelev (IMO 9503304), the Ro-Ro cargo vessel Sparta (IMO 9268710) and the Project 23130 oiler Akademik Pashin (IMO 9778193). The convoy passed through the English Channel on April 18, through the Strait of Gibraltar on April 29, and is now south of Malta, probably having crossed paths with the departing USS Gerald R Ford (CVN-78) and her carrier strike group.
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The convoy is declaring itself as destined for Port Said, but the General Skobelev is spoofing its AIS signal and pretending to be in the Baltic. The escort, the deceptive behavior of the convoy and its track all suggest that it is heading for Tartus, with a logistics load on board suggesting that a revived permanent presence in Tartus is being restocked.
While Tartus has not been available as a support base for the Russian Mediterranean Flotilla, to which vessels still appear to be assigned despite the lack of presence recently, the Russian military has made heavy use of facilities in Algeria. There was already a substantial Russian military mission providing training and technical support to Russian ships and aircraft procured by Algeria, but the Algerians have probably drawn a line at a surrender of sovereignty which the permanent establishment of a Russian support base in Algeria would signify. The Russian visits to Algeria through this period have always been described as port calls, implying that diplomatic clearance would have been necessary for each visit.
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