The location of the convoy means that equipment and weapons will not be landed in Libya, and possibly Russia will usage this weapon against Ukraine, consider analysts from the American Institute of War Studies (ISW).
Two cargo ships, Sparta and Sparta II, accompanied by frigates Admiral Grigorovich and Admiral Golovko, landing ships Ivan Grien and Alexander Otrakowski, and 2 tankers, General Skobielev and Wiaźma, sailed from the Syrian port of Tartus.
There is no certainty that this full fleet is heading towards the Atlantic, or that 1 of the units has detached from it as it sailed close the east coasts of Libya, where Russia negotiates with the ruling part of this divided country General Chalifa Haftar to establish a military base in 1 of the Libyan seaports. This anticipation was suggested by satellite image analyst MT Anderson in a Wednesday entry on the X platform. It included the U.S. drone MQ-4C Triton's flight route, which followed the Russian convoy, but at any point it deviated from the way and hung over Benghazi for a long time.
The convoy surely did not leave Sparta and Sparta II most likely loaded with military weapons and equipment left by the Russians who left Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime. Both ships sent AIS recognition signals on Wednesday, and their position in the western Mediterranean confirmed the Marinetraffic portal.
NATO is tracking the Russian convoy. Warships shut down their devices.
The convoy's warships have disabled equipment to monitor their positions, but the photos posted by the Italian Itamilradar portal, which monitors the movement of aircraft, ships and ships in the Mediterranean Sea, show that 1 frigate, both landing ships and 1 tanker are sailing right next to cargo ships. There is no frigate of Admiral Grigorovich in the photos.
The tanker Wjaźma, which is presently in Egyptian Alexandria, has detached from the fleet, as reported by Marinetraffic data. The position of Kildin's spy ship, on which the fire broke out on January 23, is unknown.
It was due to this fire and the earlier sinking of the Russian cargo ship Ursa Major off the coast of Spain that the Kremlin allocated warship support to cargo ships.
This fleet has been accompanied for respective days by 2 Italian aircraft operating in this part of the Mediterranean ATR P-72A and belonging to the customs services of ATR P-72B and the American Triton drone, whose task is to conduct surveillance and reconnaissance in a very large maritime area.
