Media: Russian Navy presence in Mediterranean plummets to zero

The Russian Navy has cleared out of the Mediterranean Sea completely, leaving the basin without a single Russian warship for the first time since 2013, maritime security analysts reported on Friday, July 17.

The total withdrawal was first flagged by the open-source intelligence (OSINT) project Russian Forces Spotter. According to the group's analysts, a primary driver of the deployment gap is Turkey's ongoing closure of the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits to warships. Enacted following the outbreak of the full-scale war in Ukraine, the maritime blockade has effectively barred Russia's Black Sea Fleet from executing routine personnel and vessel rotations into the Mediterranean.

Furthermore, analysts estimate that Russia’s naval facility in Tartus, Syria, has steadily degraded in strategic utility, transitioning from a robust operational base designed to project permanent power into a heavily restricted, minor logistics hub.

Speaking to The Insider, Mark Douglas, an analyst at Starboard Maritime Intelligence, emphasised the immense logistical hurdles now facing Moscow's naval planners. Ships dispatched to the Mediterranean must now make the arduous journey from Northern Europe and return via the same route.

Additionally, Douglas noted that securing vital port-call and supply agreements along the way has become a diplomatic bottleneck. Russia must continuously negotiate with foreign governments for maritime logistical support, a task rendered "increasingly difficult in the current political climate."

Diversion of naval assets to other theatres has further strained Moscow's maritime capabilities. Following recent attacks on Russian warships in Saint Petersburg, naval planners redirected a portion of their active fleet to escort commercial vessels off the coast of Great Britain, where warning shots have periodically been fired toward civilian ships.

"All these circumstances combined reduce Russia's ability to maintain a permanent presence in the Mediterranean," Douglas observed, though he added that the current total absence of Russian warships in the basin is "most likely temporary."

By Tamilla Hasanova