A Russian military naval convoy comprising three ships arrived at Tobruk port in eastern Libya, according to satellite imagery and intelligence analyses showing their movements in the Mediterranean during September, as Italian and US aircraft monitored the area.
The three Russian ships and their tracked routes
The convoy comprised the cargo ships “Anastasiia” and “Yuriy Arshenevskiy”, along with the Russian Ropucha-class landing ship “Aleksandr Shabalin”. The data indicates that the ships stopped transmitting Automatic Identification System signals before an Italian maritime patrol aircraft detected them in the central Mediterranean on 10 September.
Images taken by the European “Sentinel-2” satellite on 13 September showed “Anastasiia” inside Tobruk port, while “Yuriy Arshenevskiy” was at its entrance and “Aleksandr Shabalin” was offshore. The following day, the US reconnaissance aircraft “Artemis II”, carrying the radio call sign “BRIO66”, flew for an extended period over the waters off Tobruk.
Italian activity coincides with the convoy’s arrival
The convoy’s arrival coincided with Rome intensifying contacts with Libyan parties and a visit to Tripoli by Italy’s Chief of Defence Staff, General Luciano Portolano, where he discussed security and military cooperation and the protection of oil and gas supplies.
Italy is also monitoring the growing Russian presence in Libya through the Africa Corps, which reports to Russia’s Defence Ministry, amid assessments that it extends to the Al-Khadim, Jufra, Qardabiya, Tamanhint, Brak al-Shati, and Matin al-Sarra bases.
