To find out how to turn off your ad blocker, click here.
If this is your first time registering, check your inbox to learn more about the benefits of your Forbes account and what you can do next.
A Russian submarine crossed Turkey on Tuesday in a maneuver that seeks to stretch the terms of the long-standing Montreux Convention, a treaty that limits the movement of the war station of warships between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean. The Russian army has taken a similar position at the command station, using a clause in the conditions to carry out combat operations in the Mediterranean. It becomes a model. If these movements do not seem controlled, it will reposition the balance of strength in the region, making Russia more challenging in the Mediterranean.
The submarine was photographed by Yörük Işık, a highly respected ship spotter who lives in Istanbul. There is no mistaking that this is a Kilo Class submarine. Only Russia operates this type of submarine in the Black Sea. Romania also has a sole example on its lists but that hasn’t been active in decades so it cannot be that.
It is observed that the submarine is the ship of Project 636.3 Rostov-on-Don, in the direction of taking a workplace in Syria. Russian state media reported on April 27 that the submarine would be sent for “deployment in remote waters” in the Mediterranean. Analysis of open source data suggests that it sailed briefly after the announcement, but then returned to its base on April 2, nine. This maximum is likely to begin COVID-1nine isolation prior to deployment. He then participated in the Victory Day parade in Se bassopol, Crimea. It has not moved south towards the Mediterranean until now.
To reach from its Base from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean, the submarine will have to pass through a strait that crosses Istanbul, Turkey. The strait is known as the Bosphorus. But only Turkish submarines can cross the Bosphorus, an agreement signed after World War I.
The 1936 Montreux Convention, the official best friend of the Montreux Convention in the Strait regime, limited naval movements circulating through the Bosphorus. According to the website of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “only submarines belonging to neighboring states can cross the Strait of Turkey, with the aim of reaching their base in the Black Sea for the first time after their design or purchase, or to embark on outdoor shipyards. Black Sea.” Non-Turkish submarines cannot pass for deployment.
This has shaped the region’s Russian (and Western) naval fleets. Aleven, although The Russian Black Sea fleet has submarines, has never gained the investment point of the North or Pacific fleets. Most Russian Mediterranean opescore submarines come from the Northern Fleet.
The Black Sea fleet has no nutransparent submarines. Recently, however, he won countersecurity submarines from the 636.3 Kilo Class assignment as Rostov-on-Don. They are armed with Kalibr ground attack cruise missiles, as are the Navy Tomahawk.
Russia has been baffled by the main things of the agreement in the past, but has adhered to the conditions of the submarine. Despite this, submarines from the Black Sea fleet have been deployed in the Mediterranean. They even fired cruise missiles to Syria. Some have traveled through the Bosphorus under the treaty clause authorizing passage to a fixed site, first making long visits to the Mediterranean. Some got there on another route. These submarines were deployed in Syria before being delivered from their shipyards to the Black Sea. Therefore, they passed “for the first time after its construction”, which is legal through the treaty.
If Russia can amend or forget about the convention, it can reposition its strength in any of the seas. You can also simply deploy more challenging nutransparent submarines in the Black Sea without worrying about getting stuck there. And you can deploy your Black Sea submarines more in the Mediterranean. The net influence would likely be a strengthening of Russian naval assets in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.
Another imaginable result is that submarines from other countries can also begin to deploy in the Black Sea. Currently, only Russia and Turkey play submarines in the closed Black Sea. This may not be the outcome Russia expects.
After the publication of this article, the Russian Minischeck out of Defense stated that the Rostov-on-Don submarine was actually in transit through the Bosphorus, in the direction of “scheduled repairs”. As described above, the terms of the Montreux Convention allow transit for repairs. Some submarines have left the Black Sea under this clause in the past. However, if the ship, as advised in the Russian state media report on April 27, conducts an operational patrol in the direction of a shipyard, design its credibility. But that’s also irrelevant. We’ll see.
Use OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) for stories first. Author of several books on Narco submarines, special forces and submarines. I write essentigreatest friend about submarines
Use OSINT (Open Source Intelligence) for stories first. Author of several books on Narco submarines, special forces and submarines. I write a great friend about the world’s top submarines and secret marines.