Barents Observer – Built at the Admirality shipyard in St. Petersburg, the icebreaking patrol vessel sailed around the Baltics and Scandinavia in late March and arrived to the Northern Fleet’s main base on Monday.

MarineLink – Two tankers hit by U.S. sanctions are due to offload Russian Arctic Oil in Syria for the first time, days after Moscow made its first known delivery of diesel there in more than a decade.

(Thanks to Alain)

MarineLink – Germany seized a decrepit tanker found adrift off its northern coast in January that is believed to be part of a shadow fleet used by Russia to circumvent oil sanctions.

(Thanks to Alain)

Bulgarian Military – On Tuesday, the Russian Navy carried out military exercises in the Baltic Sea, involving about 10 ships, according to a statement from the Baltic Fleet’s press service reported by Interfax, a Russian news agency.

(Thanks to Alain)

International Consortium of Investigative Journalists – The Kremlin is using vessels from its “ghost fleet” — hundreds of aging commercial ships with obscured ownership — to send military equipment to Libyan strongman Khalifa Haftar.

(Thanks to Alain)

The Barents Observer – Servicemen on board the Admiral Kasatonov successfully applied their war experiences during a recent exercise in the Barents Sea, the Northern Fleet reports.

Army Recognition – According to MilitaryRussia on March 2, 2025, the Baltic Fleet appears to have a new flagship, as the Russian Navy has left the Severomorsk, a Udaloy-class destroyer, in the Baltic Sea following its 14-month technical restoration and combat training, rather than returning it to its home fleet. This decision appears to be related to the status of the Baltic Fleet’s former flagship, the Nastoichivy, which has likely been decommissioned and is awaiting disposal, as suggested by the cessation of its sea deployments.

(Thanks to Alain)

The Ukrainian Weekly – As Russia’s war against Ukraine enters its fourth year, Ukraine’s growing offensive capabilities have forced the Russian military to work harder to protect its assets, including its battered Black Sea Fleet. Media reports indicate that Russia is now reviving “Object 825GTS” (“Объект 825ГТС”), a Soviet-era underground submarine base in Balaklava, Crimea. Built during the Soviet era from 1953 to 1961 to house and repair diesel-electric submarines, the facility was designed to shelter submarines from aerial and nuclear attacks.

(Thanks to Alain)

The Barents Observer – The combat power of the Russian Navy is under pressure and forces the Northern Fleet to choose between solving missions and performing necessary maintenance, the Norwegian Intelligence Service says.

RUSI – Russia’s Mediterranean foothold faces uncertainty, with Tartus’s future hanging in the balance and alternative bases in Libya and Algeria offering limited, politically fraught substitutes.

Naval News – During the forenoon of January 15th, the Russian oceanographic research vessel Yantar arrived in a position 40 nautical miles north of Oran, Algeria, and 216 nautical miles east of Gibraltar.

The War Zone – It is believed that this iconic boat will split its time between the Arctic Ocean and the North Atlantic, while avoiding the relatively cramped spaces of the Black Sea.

(Thanks to Alain)

Maritime Executive – Ukraine’s military intelligence agency claims that Russia is encountering difficulties in gaining access to its longtime naval base in Tartus, where it appears to have staged large quantities of military equipment for outward shipment. 

(Thanks to Alain)

The Barents Observer – Putin has expressed great ambitions for the Northern Sea Route, but his plans are far from materialization.

The Barents Observer – While Russia is midway into its nuclear submarine modernisation program with the new 4th generation ballistic missile carriers of the Borei-class, priority is also given to keep afloat the Soviet-era Delta-IV class vessels deployed with the Northern Fleet. 

The Barents Observer – A key part of combat training for the Russian navy’s new frigates in 2025 will be long-distance sailings. In Severomorsk, the Admiral Gorshkov was welcomed home after a voyage that lasted 226 days.

Naval News – As almost every year, December 2024 brought interesting news about the Russian Navy. In keeping with “good Soviet tradition,” by the end of each year Russian shipyards sought to complete important stages of new shipbuilding. 2024, despite the devastating Russian war in Ukraine, was an interesting and fruitful year for the Kremlin’s naval forces in this regard.

Naval News – The Russian Navy is significantly weakened in the Mediterranean. The collapse of the Assad regime in Syria has denied them their permanent base there. And with it, their ability to maintain conventional submarines there for any length of time. The only boat known to be there has just left, leaving no Russian submarines in the Mediterranean.

War on the Rocks – Russia wields a formidable capability to target NATO’s undersea infrastructure in critical regions such as the Baltic, Barents, and North Seas, as well as across the world’s oceans: its “research” vessels. These are ostensibly civilian ships used for scientific exploration that double as intelligence-gathering platforms. Equipped with advanced surveillance technology, these ships often operate near critical undersea infrastructure, raising concerns about covert espionage and sabotage capabilities under the guise of academic study.

USNI News – The Russian Navy accepted the fifth in a class of advanced nuclear attack submarines that is set to be based near Norway, Moscow announced last week.

BMPD – On December 28, 2024, a solemn ceremony of raising the national flag was held in St. Petersburg at JSC “Baltic Plant” (part of JSC “United Shipbuilding Corporation” – USC) on the universal nuclear icebreaker “Yakutia” of project 22220 (LK-60Ya), built by order of FSUE “Atomflot”. This is the fourth nuclear icebreaker of Project 22220.

(In Russian)

(Thanks to Alain)

gCaptain – The Admiralty Shipyards in Saint Petersburg launched the second armed Arctic icebreaker for Russia’s Navy. Upon commissioning the Nikolay Zubov will become part of the country’s Northern Fleet Kola division. The Arc7 ice-class will allow the patrol ship to break through up to 1.7 meters of ice ensuring year-round access to Russia’s Arctic waters.

(Thanks to Alain)

The War Zone – Ukrainian intel claims the cargo ship was headed to Syria to take Russian materiel out of the country, but Moscow says otherwise.

Army Recognition – According to information published by Russian sources on December 6, 2024, the Russian Navy is preparing to enhance its underwater warfare capabilities with the addition of the Arkhangelsk, a multipurpose nuclear-powered submarine, slated for delivery in the summer of 2025. This submarine, part of the modernized Project 885M Yasen-M class, is being constructed by Sevmash, a division of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC).

(Thanks to Alain)

Reuters – Russia is disrupting mobile communications and ship-tracking data across the Baltic Sea, endangering vessels and energy supplies to test how Western powers will respond, a Polish admiral overseeing the area said.

(Thanks to Alain)