Innocent Exercises?: Russian Navy is ready for deployment to the Arabian Sea

Post-9/11 Era Forum

Commander of the upcoming deployment of the Black Sea Fleet to the Arabian Sea deputy commander of the Black Sea Navy Vice-Admiral Yevgeniy Orlov was recently ordered to Moscow to receive instructions for conducting naval exercises near the combat zone. This information was provided to the “Nezavisimaya Gazeta” by the sources in the Russian Navy command, who believe that Orlov was instructed not only by the Russian Minister of Defense but also by President Putin personally.

Analysts believe that Russian naval presence in the conflict zone will allow for better tracking of the situation and, if needed, to land troops and take part in the post-war reorganization. The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces was correct in expecting this war to take a long time and now preparations for naval deployment to the region are being made with no rush. According to a source in the Russian Navy, the naval ships will be ready for the deployment in 5-6 days after the corresponding decision is made by the government and the right of passage is secured with countries controlling the Bosphorus and the Suez canal.

Meanwhile the Russian Pacific Fleet completed preparations for maneuvers in the Indian Ocean. It is interesting to note that naval ships of the Russian Baltic fleet are also getting ready to be deployed to the Arabian Sea this summer. It is possible that the Baltic Fleet will be deployed in coordination with the German and French navies. The Baltic Fleet officials could not officially confirm these reports but cited the Baltic Fleet commander Admiral Vladimir Valuyev as saying that “preparations for long-term deployments are being made… and it is possible that fleet’s ships will return to the high seas.”

The preparations for naval deployments are being made alongside active military maneuvers. Various Russian military services have been put on combat alert. However, the Ministry of Defense calls these actions “routine” and does not connect them to the war in Iraq. It is true that during the past five years Russian tactical and strategic maneuvers were conducted at the end of March – beginning of April. The most massive military maneuvers were launched in 1999 immediately following the beginning of NATO’s aggression against Yugoslavia. However, present levels of activity of the Russian forces stands out against this background.

The Vladimirsky group of the Russian Strategic Missile Forces conducted combat exercises on March 17-28. A mobile “Topol” ICBM system launched a practice missile from the “Plesetsk” cosmodrome at a target located on the Kamchatka peninsula. Combat exercises are currently being conducted by the 37th Air Army of the High Command (the strategic bomber aviation). Largest Russian military maneuvers in the past ten years have begun on March 28 in the Southern federal district under the command of the Chief of General Staff Anatoly Kvashnin.

The Russian Caspian Sea Fleet is conducting combat training near Kaspijsk, Derbent and Makhachkala ports in Dagestan and also near the border with Iran. The Navy officials say that the Caspian Sea Fleet is cooperating the federal Emergencies Ministry and the Federal Border guard Service to deliver humanitarian aid to natural disaster sites. It is entirely possible that such a “natural disaster” site may be in Iraq, where Russia can deliver cargo via Iran. The Caspian option is also preferred in case of Russian military participation in the UN mission in Iraq.

Unprecedented levels of activity of the Russian military confirm Moscow’s serious concern with the situation around Iraq. Russian Minister of Defense Sergey Ivanov supported the proposal by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to terminate all preparatory work for ratification of the US-Russian strategic arms reduction treaty. Ivanov denounced the flights of US spy planes near Russian borders and on March 24 Ivanov traveled to the Sarov federal nuclear center (Arzamas-16) to review currently work on the development of new types of nuclear weapons. Commenting on the reasons for his trip to the nuclear center Ivanov said that the current international security system is “literally ripping along the seams.” “Once again this forces us to pay constant attention to the condition of our Armed Forces and weapons to secure reliable and unconditional defense of Russia under any circumstances,” Ivanov said.

Source: Nezavisimaya Gazeta (Russia)

O gee, the Russian Navy is about as much of a threat as the Iraqi army.

A bunch of worn-out noisy subs, no real aircraft carriers, and their main battle fleet is a joke. Sitting on the bottom, just outside of Russian ports are US attack boats. Anything that leaves port is tracked. If a Russian sub gets anywhere near missle or tordedo range of the US battle groups, they will be PINGED, big time. This lets them know that at least one LosAngeles class attack boat is on their butts. At this point they have two choices: continue on, flood tubes and be blown out of the water or surface and go away. This has happened many times over the past few decades.

Oops, I forgot. One of the favorite activities by Capitans of US attack boats is to come up behind Soviet/Russian ships, take a picture through the targetting periscope. Then they mail the photo to the Capitan of that ship.

Musa