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Calling the move "an unfriendly gesture," the source said it was "the largest deployment since the end of the Cold War."

According to the source, in this way Russia intends to increase the number of aircraft in Syria and begin the final air operation in Aleppo within two weeks.

Earlier, the Norwegian publication VG.no called the appearance of Russian Navy ships in the region the biggest demonstration of Russian military power over the past few years.

In general, Western sources manage to express two mutually exclusive opinions at the same time. On the one hand, they report that Russia will use all the "few forces" left over from the Soviet era. On the other hand, it claims to be "the biggest operation" since the Cold War."

The best of the hike

The press service of the Northern Fleet reported that, in accordance with the combat training plan of the Navy, on October 15, the Northern Fleet's shipborne aircraft carrier group began its campaign in the North-East Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea.

The group includes the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Kuznetsov, the heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Pyotr Veliky, the large anti-submarine ships Severomorsk and Vice-Admiral Kulakov, and support vessels.

Is it possible to say that "the entire Northern Fleet" went on a campaign?

The truth is that four of the most powerful surface ships of the fleet among those that are in service have taken a course for the Mediterranean.

This is the only aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov in service with Russia, the only heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser Peter the Great currently in service in the Northern Fleet, as well as two of the three large anti-submarine ships of the Frigate project - Vice Admiral Kulakov. and Severomorsk.

This is really the backbone of the surface part of the Northern Fleet, well-armed and ready to compete on equal terms with the naval forces of any country in the world.

The same "Peter the Great" has 20 launchers of anti-ship missiles P 700 "Granit", which are capable of destroying not only enemy aircraft carrier groups, but also coastal targets. The Pyotr Veliky is also equipped with a three-level air defense system that provides cover for a 600-kilometer zone around the ship.

According to many experts, neither in the Mediterranean nor in the Atlantic "Peter the Great" simply has no equal. To match him and other ships of the connection.

Don't worry

And at the same time, it is impossible to talk about “the entire Northern Fleet”. And not only because this group is not all surface forces. The main shock fist of the fleet is strategic nuclear missile carriers, of which there are currently seven in service. As far as we know, they do not participate in the campaign. Yes, they, in fact, do not need it, since they solve completely different tasks.

In addition, almost all surface ships of the Northern Fleet in the specified area operated earlier, as part of the Mediterranean Squadron of the Navy, created in 2013. Therefore, only their simultaneous appearance can be considered an innovation.

Well, the last thing to note. Since the beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, NATO warships have regularly entered the Black Sea, including the latest US Navy ships operating in close proximity to the Russian coast.

For this reason alone, it is not worth reacting so violently to the campaign of the ships of the Northern Fleet, calling it an "unfriendly step."

After all, if Russian sailors are not offended, they are very friendly.

Minister of Defense of Russia General of the Army Sergei Shoigu At today's meeting in the military department, he said that the Russian naval aircraft carrier group, led by the flagship of the Northern Fleet, the cruiser Peter the Great, had arrived in the Mediterranean Sea.

In addition, Shoigu noted that the group successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean, and from October 27 to 29, support vessels replenished the naval formation with all types of supplies.

Thus, we can safely say that the ships of this naval formation will be ready this month to carry out the assigned tasks to combat terrorists in Syria, where this group should provide support to the Russian troops operating in this country.

The actions of the Russian Navy in Syria are going according to plan

Employee of the Center for Analysis and Technology, retired captain of the third rank Maxim Shepovalenko in conversation with FBA "Economy Today" noted that this campaign of the formations of the Russian navy had been known for a long time, so we do not have a spontaneous decision of the Russian Ministry of Defense.

Employee of the Center for Analysis and Technologies, retired captain of the third rank Maxim Shepovalenko

"Obviously, before next year the aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov will undergo medium repairs and modernization, this is the last opportunity to test a number of new types of Russian military equipment in combat conditions," Shepovalenko states.

According to Shepovalenko, the Russian military leadership decided to “run in” the MiG-29KUB and Ka-52K, the latest shipborne versions of well-known samples of domestic military equipment.

Support for ground forces is not the main task of "Admiral Kuznetsov"

And this is the main task of this mission in Syria today, since the Khmeimim base is ideal for performing tasks in this country, and not the capabilities that we have today within the Russian navy.

“Having a base in Khmeimim, it makes no sense to act from the sea to solve the tasks that Russia now has in Syria, so, in practice, this is a planned event that can only be carried out here and now, because Admiral Kuznetsov will have to get up for scheduled repairs at the very beginning of next year,” Shepovalenko sums up.

Therefore, this operation, according to Shepovalenko, has as its main task the acquisition of fresh experience of such operations abroad, as well as the use of our technical innovations, and this will be just wonderful, because then we will no longer have such an opportunity for three years.

“So, this is not an action of the Ministry of Defense with the aim of showing “Kuzkin’s mother” with the help of our “Kuzi”, but a planned operation to test the capabilities of the Russian Navy, as well as combat coordination as part of the use of large forces of surface ships in the waters far from the Russian coast, ” - states Shepovalenko.

"Admiral Kuznetsov" is not an aircraft carrier

Just as Shepovalenko believes, it cannot be said that we sent an expeditionary group to Syria, at least based on the traditional tactics of the Russian Navy at sea, from which many features of Russian aircraft carriers follow.

“We have a completely different concept, which was expressed in the very concept of an aircraft-carrying heavy missile cruiser. Why is it called that? Yes, because in fact its main weapon is not an air group, but such a combat weapon as the P-700 Granit anti-ship missile. So, this is a completely different thing than what we know from the example of the classic aircraft carriers of the US Navy,” Shepovalenko concludes.

According to Shepovalenko, when talking about the Admiral Kuznetsov, we often forget that it is equipped with Granit missiles and that it is first of all a missile cruiser, and only then an aircraft carrier, and this function, within the framework of the USSR naval strategy, has never been on deed main.

“Such a ship was created for organizing air defense, as well as coordinating the overall actions of a ship formation, and not for actions against the coast, as is the case in the US Navy. So, we have completely different specifics here with the Americans, even though the ship looks the same outwardly, but, in essence, these are two different classes,” Shepovalenko sums up.

Our fleet is against the fleet

Shepovalenko claims that the "Admiral Kuznetsov" is not at all such a ship than those ships that are called "aircraft carrier" exist in the fleets of the USA, France and Great Britain. This is a kind of "hybrid", a hybrid ship with two different and fundamentally different functions.

“All our previous aircraft carrier projects in the form of Project 1143 ships - Kiev, Minsk, Admiral Gorshkov, which we recently modernized and sold to the Indians, are not aircraft carriers, but heavy aircraft carrier cruisers with missile weapons, where the air group plays secondary role,” Shepovalenko states.

Therefore, this is not an expeditionary force, as Shepovalenko believes, since the latter is a naval formation for operations in overseas territories, and our fleet has always acted against the fleet, and not the coast.

“In Soviet times, the Russian Navy was intended to operate against the US Navy and NATO, and not against the coast, as is usually the case within the framework of an expeditionary group,” Shepovalenko concludes.

Thus, the main opponents of our military grouping in the Mediterranean are not terrorists in Syria, but the US Sixth Fleet, stationed just in this water area.