NATO officials have revealed that the last two Russian warships deployed in the Mediterranean Sea have been withdrawn by the end of June. This marks the first time in a decade that there is no Russian military presence in the Mediterranean, indicating significant depletion of Russian military resources after nearly four and a half years of invasion into Ukraine, forcing them to retract their deployments.
According to a report from Newsweek on Friday, citing an unnamed NATO official, Russia’s frigate “Admiral Gorshkov” and the supply tanker “Pashin” sailed out of the Mediterranean Sea on June 26. The last signal from the “Pashin” indicated it was leaving Gibraltar.
Russia has long deployed warships in the Mediterranean in an attempt to counterbalance NATO’s military presence in the region.
In 2013, Putin declared a permanent naval presence in the Mediterranean citing national security interests. The Russian Navy established a permanent presence using the Tartus naval base in Syria, rotating ships from the Black Sea, Northern, and Baltic fleets.
By the end of 2024, after the escape of Putin’s ally, former Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, Moscow withdrew most of its forces stationed in Syria.
The withdrawal of the Russian Navy also reflects the significant diversion of naval resources towards protecting Russian merchant ships from the intense attacks by Ukrainian drones and unmanned vessels, especially along European coastlines.
Recently, Ukraine has intensified attacks on Russian cargo and oil ships in the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea.
Ukrainian attacks have even extended to the Baltic Fleet near St. Petersburg, attacking the Kronstadt naval base twice within a month, approximately 1000 kilometers from Ukrainian territory.
In March of this year, Putin accused Ukrainian forces of attacking the oil tanker “Arctic Metagaz” near Libya, which belonged to the Russian “shadow fleet” subject to sanctions by the US and the EU.
A report from Radio France Internationale (RFI) previously stated that a Ukrainian-made unmanned surface vessel hit the said oil tanker.
Kyiv authorities claim that by 2026, Ukraine had destroyed or severely damaged nearly one-third of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
For Russian warships to reinforce the Black Sea, Crimea, Novorossiysk, and other homeports, they must navigate through the Bosporus and Dardanelles straits controlled by Ankara.
Since the full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine in 2022, Turkey has prohibited the passage of Russian and Ukrainian warships during wartime in accordance with a 90-year-old treaty, causing the Russian Black Sea Fleet to be stranded, and Moscow unable to send reinforcements to the naval war in the Black Sea.
With the Black Sea route sealed off, Russia can only deploy ships to the Mediterranean from the Baltic or Northern fleets, requiring a longer journey passing through Gibraltar Strait. Departing and returning distances for the warships become longer, making resupply, maintenance, and access to foreign ports more challenging along the way.