Russia has sent a large anti-submarine destroyer, the Severomorsk of Russia’s Northern Fleet, to the Black Sea, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Jan. 9.
Between late September and mid-December 2018, the warship traveled through the Indian Ocean, as well as the Gulf of Aden and the Red and Arabian Seas, “on missions to combat piracy and ensuring security of civilian shipping,” the press service said. The vessel was in the Mediterranean on New Year’s Day and Orthodox Christmas on Jan. 7.
The warship reportedly visited a number of foreign ports on military diplomatic missions, participated in Russian-Pakistani anti-piracy drills in the Indian Ocean, and then took part in Russia’s own inter-fleet maneuvers in the Mediterranean .
Earlier on Jan. 9, the Severomorsk was pictured passing through the Bosphorus Strait, producing a trail of smoke.
#ВМФ Project 1155 Northern Fleet Сф Udaloy class destroyer is powered by COGAG (combined gas and gas)turbines. Smoke is expected during sub-freezing winter-morning temperature of Bosphorus. pic.twitter.com/GvmSogatJ5
— Yörük Işık (@YorukIsik) 9 January 2019
Andrii Klymenko, the chief editor of the Black Sea News media outlet, noted that the Severomorsk was the first large Russian ocean-going warship to enter the region since Russia invaded and occupied the Ukrainian territory of Crimea in 2014.
The Severomorsk, a 7480-ton destroyer was launched in late 1985 under the name Simferopol, but was renamed in early 1996. It is considered one of the best vessels of its type in Russia’s Northern Fleet.
Its passage through the Bosphorus Strait took place just three days after the U.S. Navy dock landing ship USS Fort McHenry, with members of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard, entered the Black Sea on Jan. 6 and later sailed to the Romanian port of Constanta for three-days of joint maneuvers with Romanian forces.
Tensions in the area remain high following Russia’s Nov. 25 attack on three Ukrainian navy vessels that were en route to the Russian-controlled Kerch Strait, the gateway to the Azov Sea, control of which has been aggressively monopolized by Russia since mid-2018.
Following the assault, in which 24 Ukrainian sailors were seized and imprisoned, the Ukrainian port of Odesa was visited by a British Royal Navy hydrographic vessel HMS Echo, the presence of which was meant to demonstrate support from NATO for Ukraine in its escalating confrontation with the Kremlin.
