– Defense News – The Russian military is deploying a flotilla of at least 10 ships to the Syrian coast.

– US Naval War College Review – Russian destabilization efforts aimed at the Baltic States are most likely to come from the Baltic Sea; be maritime, nonlethal, and nonnaval; and use political, diplomatic, informational, psychological, and economic tools, and perhaps paramilitary forces.

– War on the Rocks – Although Moscow is in no position to dominate the Baltic Sea, its efforts to turn the Black Sea into a mare nostrum are bearing fruit. Over the past several years, the Kremlin has mastered the Baltic feint: By engaging in aerial and maritime provocations in a region highly monitored by the West, Russia is able to entrench its position in the Black Sea without notice. While most U.S. strategists worry about the Suwalki Gap on the Polish-Lithuanian border as a potential Russian invasion route into Central Europe, it is Russia’s buildup in the Black Sea that should concern policymakers. By using the Black Sea as a springboard, Russia can project power beyond its immediate surroundings — into the Middle East, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean — and strengthen its reemergence as a great power.

– War on the Rocks – Last summer, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia will continue to strengthen its forces around the Black Sea in order to “neutralize the security threat in the Black Sea region from NATO.”

– War Zone – The combat-capable “Orlan” could be as much an anti-access weapon as a tool for improving operational access to remote areas.

– National Interest – We have all the answers.

– Defense News – Russia’s next generation of multipurpose nuclear submarines, reportedly known as the Husky class, will be armed with hypersonic missiles, with the lead boat slated for launch in 2027

– USNI Proceedings – Russia has the most extensive arsenal of naval tactical nuclear weapons in the world.

– National Interest – Despite this innovative platform, the Russian Arctic “threat” is mostly hype.

– National Interest – Why is the United States fretting to such an extent about a Russian Navy that itself admits that (on a good day) it has almost half the combat power of the U.S. Navy.

– National Interest – Russian strategists appear to have a healthy respect for the U.S. Navy’s submarine force.

– National Interest – It feels like 1973 again in the Mediterranean Sea. That’s when the Soviet Navy administered a rude shock to Western navies in the Eastern Mediterranean, deploying a squadron that outnumbered the Italy-based U.S. Sixth Fleet during that year’s Arab-Israeli war. America sided with Israel, the Soviet Union with the Arab powers. For a time it appeared the Yom Kippur War might ensnare the superpower navies. In other words, war between small Middle East allies might embroil the U.S. Navy and Soviet Navy in combat.

– War Zone – The ships can carry containerized missile systems and can be outfitted with vertical launch surface-to-air missiles, but are half the size of an LCS.

– USNI Proceedings – With Putin’s Russia on the near horizon, Baltic countries must organize in anticipation of a threat. But the area’s complex geography creates a challenge beyond the Great Bear.

– War Zone – The Russian president said “you listen to us now” as he boasted about nuclear-powered cruise missile, hypersonic weapons, nuclear torpedoes, and more.

– Defense News – Underwater fiber optic cables are responsible for transmitting 97 percent of global communications and $10 trillion in daily financial transactions, yet they are dangerously exposed, according to a new report in Policy Exchange, a London-based think-tank.

– NPR – Buried in the plan is a mention of a mysterious Russian weapon called “Status-6.” On paper, at least, Status-6 appears to be a kind of doomsday device. The report refers to it as “a new intercontinental, nuclear-armed, nuclear-powered, undersea autonomous torpedo.”

– CNN – The Russian spy ship, the Viktor Leonov, was spotted 100 miles south east of Wilmington, North Carolina, in international waters.

– War Zone – Lighting your own sub on fire, or setting a fire right next to one, seems like a pretty stupid, if not unbelievable way to execute a drill.

– Breaking Defense – “When I was an ensign, a lieutenant, we knew we could beat the Russians. It was just a question of time because we were better than them,” NATO’s top admiral said. “I’m not sure we could make that assumption now.”

– Defense News – A draft of the Pentagon’s Nuclear Posture Review confirms the existence of an underwater nuclear drone made and operated by Russia, a capability the U.S. Defense Department had not previously publicly acknowledged.

– CIMSEC – Recent actions by the Russian military all point toward conveying the message that Russia does not want the presence of foreign militaries in Baltic Sea waters and is capable of taking countermeasures to exert its sovereignty in the region.

– Reuters – Russian tankers have supplied fuel to North Korea on at least three occasions in recent months by transferring cargoes at sea, according to two senior Western European security sources, providing an economic lifeline to the secretive Communist state.

– BBC – The UK’s most senior military officer has warned of a new threat posed by Russia to communications and internet cables that run under the sea.

– War Zone – The report comes a year after a MiG-29KR and a Su-33 crashed during separate incidents while operating aboard Russia’s carrier.