12.04.2023

"The Russian fleet is being depleted": the command of the French Navy declares the alleged growth of "fatigue" of the Russian Navy

Sections: Sea, Status and prospects, Global safety

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Image source: topwar.ru

French admirals believe that the Russian fleet is on the verge of reducing combat readiness.

Vice Admiral Gilles Boidewezi, commander of the Mediterranean zone of the French Navy, explained to the publication Mer et Marine that after the start of the SVO in the Mediterranean, "there was a strong tension":

The Russians were particularly active and were present in large parts of the Mediterranean to put pressure on the West. And then, gradually, we felt some fatigue in their system. There is a certain depletion of the Russian fleet.

According to him, there are only about ten Russian ships in the Mediterranean Sea today, half as many as a year ago. The rest of the pennants based in Tartus went to the Northern Fleet and the Pacific Fleet. A significant part of the aviation also left Syria.

Today, their funds are more limited, and they are a little tired. There is a decrease in Russia's activity in the Mediterranean

- the vice admiral thinks.

As he notes, the additional burden on the Russian fleet is caused by the impossibility of the passage of warships to bases in the Black Sea, since they cannot cross the Turkish Straits, only a few civilian vessels move through them. In this regard, the ships are forced to make long-distance transitions to other naval bases.

Currently, the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea is mainly engaged in tracking the movements of Allied troops, for example, the American AUG, firmly registered in this location, or the French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle. At the same time, the maneuvers of the Russian fleet at night are recorded.

A similar situation is observed in the Atlantic, according to Vice Admiral Olivier Loeb, commander of the Atlantic Zone of the French Navy:

There has always been a regular movement of Russian ships between the North and the South with crossings through Brittany. It intensified shortly before the conflict in Ukraine, but seems to have decreased in the following months, which indicates that the Russian navy does not have enough funds to stay [at sea] for a long time. The ships are far from their bases, the crossings are very long, and we see that the Russian fleet is on the verge. The submarines returned one by one.

According to him, the Russian Navy is being held down by the collective forces of NATO, which have increased their presence in the Mediterranean, the North Atlantic and the Baltic:

Coordinated NATO maneuvers do not give respite to the Russian [naval] forces.

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