Russia's navy has re-established its Mediterranean presence after a two-month hiatus, with four vessels—including sanctioned cargo and tanker ships—transiting the Strait of Gibraltar on 27 August. The move ends what military sources describe as the first gap in Moscow's continuous naval deployment in the region since 2013.
The convoy, informally known as the "Syrian Express," arrived at the Syrian port of Tartus on Monday, according to a senior European military source speaking on condition of anonymity. The term refers to Russia's maritime logistics network that ferries military supplies, weapons, and equipment between Russian ports and Tartus, a route that has operated intermittently since Moscow's military intervention in Syria in 2015.
The latest group included the sanctioned cargo vessel Sparta, the sanctioned tanker General Skobelev, and the replenishment ship Akademik Pashin, all escorted by the destroyer Admiral Levchenko. These ships are part of Russia's broader shadow fleet, which Moscow uses to circumvent Western sanctions.
European surveillance intensifies
Despite the return, Russian naval movements remain under tight European scrutiny. The Italian Carabinieri frigate closely tracked the ships as they sailed through the central Mediterranean after being spotted at Gibraltar. Euronews obtained exclusive photos of the Italian frigate alongside the Russian vessels.
Tracking data from MarineTraffic indicates that the ships switched off their automatic identification system (AIS) transponders—which broadcast identity, position, speed, and course—before passing through the Strait of Gibraltar. The senior military source noted that Syrian Express ships have increasingly disabled AIS in recent months, with the practice becoming almost "systematic."
Britain deployed three vessels—HMS Duncan, HMS St Albans, and HMS Severn—to monitor the convoy as it sailed through the English Channel. This heightened vigilance reflects broader European concerns about Russian hybrid activities, as highlighted in NATO's interception of a Russian submarine exercise earlier this year.
Russia's post-Assad foothold in Syria
Tartus is Russia's only naval base outside the former Soviet Union and its sole resupply and maintenance point in the Mediterranean. The Soviet Union established the facility in 1971 under a lease agreement with Damascus, using it to sustain its Mediterranean fleet during the Cold War.
Russia intervened militarily in Syria in September 2015, backing Bashar al-Assad's forces at a time when they were losing ground to opposition groups. Moscow initially claimed its strikes targeted the so-called Islamic State, but international organisations documented that most Russian air strikes hit opposition-held civilian areas, with Airwars assessing that those strikes killed more than 14,000 Syrian civilians.
The nine-year campaign was the Kremlin's most significant military engagement outside the former Soviet Union before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. When the al-Assad regime collapsed in December 2024, Russian warships evacuated from Tartus within days—a precautionary move to avoid being seized or denied departure.
In August, Damascus announced a deal with Moscow to retain Russia's future presence at its two military bases in the country. On 9 August, Syria's state news agency SANA quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying the Hmeimim airbase and Tartus naval base would become "joint training and capacity-building centres" under new arrangements aimed at preserving "mutual interests."
The senior European military source outlined several factors hindering Moscow's ability to maintain its Mediterranean presence, including Russia's ageing navy, European sanctions against its shadow fleet, and Ukrainian naval and aerial drones targeting its Black Sea fleet. These challenges come as Brussels debates the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine, and as Ukraine's intelligence chief notes Europe's growing awareness of Russia's hybrid war.
The return of the Syrian Express underscores Russia's determination to maintain a foothold in the Mediterranean, even as its naval capabilities face mounting pressure. European navies, meanwhile, continue to adapt their surveillance tactics to counter Moscow's increasingly covert operations.
