Lone Russian Corvette Flies the St. Andrew’s Flag in the Med

RFS Stoykiy (Russian Ministry of Defense file image)

At a time of active conflict involving both Lebanon and Israel, and when the French Navy has deployed at full strength to prevent further attacks on the British Sovereign Base Area in Cyprus, the strength of the Mediterranean Flotilla has sunk to a single ship flying the St. Andrew’s Flag of the Russian Navy.

On March 31, the Improved Kilo (Project 636.6) class submarine RFS Krasnodar (B-265) and its shadowing tug Altay (IMO 4622404) passed westwards back through the Strait of Gibraltar, having transited the English Channel on entry in mid-December last year. In its three month stint in the Mediterranean, Krasnodar first made a port call in Algiers, and passed back through Algiers with the Altay on its return journey.

On the basis of NATO anti-submarine patrol paths tracking the submarine, the Krasnodar appears to have spent most of its time in the central Mediterranean, where in December the dark fleet Omani-flagged tanker Qendil (IMO 9310525) was attacked, as was the Russian-flagged LNG carrier Arctic Metagaz (IMO 9243148) later on March 3. A Kilo-class submarine is not well suited to helping deter or react to such attacks.

The Krasnodar has conducted previous patrols in the Mediterranean. Although now based in the Baltic, the boat was formerly assigned to the Black Sea Fleet – and in effect may still therefore be nominally assigned to the Mediterranean Flotilla.

The sole Russian naval vessel remaining in the Mediterranean is the Steregushchiy-class corvette RFS Stoykiy (F545), last identified off Tartus at the end of March, but seen west of Cyprus and alongside in Tartus earlier in the month. The Stoykiy has had an eventful patrol, passing through the English Channel in late November, circumnavigating Africa, participating in Exercise Mosi-26 in Cape Town in early January, then making a port call in the Seychelles. It was next scheduled to exercise with the Chinese and Iranian navies in Exercise Maritime Security Belt 2026 off Bandar Abbas.

Clearly aware something was afoot, the Chinese 48th Flotilla did not turn up, and the Stoykiy stayed only one night on February 18, conducting a very brief exercise with the Iranian Navy as it left the next day - a gesture which was clearly much appreciated by the Iranians. Most of the Iranian vessels participating in this short passage exercise were sunk days later as the Stoykiy was beating a retreat through the Red Sea to Tartus.

The Russian Navy, contrary to predictions, appears to have retained some restricted visiting rights in Tartus, and the Russian airfield at Khmeimim further up the Syrian coast remains active. The Russians appear not to have sought a new facility, with the port of Tobruk in Libya considered a strong candidate. Instead, the Russians are leveraging their long-term training presence to make more frequent port calls in Algiers. Algiers is some distance away from the technical support which might be available at the Algerian naval base of Mers el Kebir, where a Russian team help maintain Algeria’s six Kilo-class submarines.

Algerian Navy Kilo Class submarines alongside at their base in Mers al Kebir, March 2025 (Google Earth/Airbus)