USS Laboon (DDG-58) sails into Souda Bay, Greece, during a scheduled port visit on April 29, 2015. US Navy Photo
An American guided missile destroyer and a French surveillance ship entered the Black Sea on Sunday, according to a Turkish ship spotting website. Read More
Gorshkov frigate Admiral Flota Sovetskogo Soyuza Gorshkov at Northern Shipyard. Photo via 7 Feet Beneath the Keel
The modernization of Russia’s surface fleet — already behind schedule — could face additional delays due to Ukraine’s decision to stop selling the Russian Navy gas turbine engines crucial to two new ship classes. Read More
Ships from various nations in the Baltic Region and the U.S. 6th Fleet command and control ship USS Mount Whitney begin the underway phase of Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) 2014. US Navy photo.
The 43rd annual Baltic Operations (BALTOPS) exercise begins today, with four additional countries participating and significantly more troops involved compared to last year’s event. Read More
USS Ross (DDG-71), left, transits the Black Sea with the Ukranian navy frigate Hetman Sahaydachniy (U 130) during an underway exercise on June 2, 2015. US Navy Photo
The guided missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG- 71) departed the Black Sea on Wednesday after an 11-day cruise of the region, according to a statement from U.S. 6th Fleet. Read More
USS Ross (DDG-71) transits the Mediterranean Sea on May 4, 2015. US Navy Photo
This post has been updated to include a June 1, 2015 U.S. 6th Fleet video of a Sukhoi SU-24 Fencer flyby near USS Ross.
The Pentagon is pushing back against anonymously sourced reports in state controlled Russian media that guided missile destroyer USS Ross (DDG-71) was chased from Russian controlled waters in the Black Sea by Russian fighters over the weekend, U.S. officials told USNI News. Read More
The Atlantic Council released a new report documenting Russia’s direct involvement in the conflict in the Ukraine based on what it calls publicly available information and open-sourced investigative techniques. Read More
Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2013.
Russia is in a period of slow deterioration — economically and politically — with a regime that has neither a mechanism for the transfer of power nor an agenda to achieve long-term sustainable growth, a panel of Moscow watchers agreed during a forum Thursday on the country’s future. Read More
Retired Gen. Wesley Clark at The Atlantic Council on March 30, 2015. Atlantic Council Photo
The Russians and Russian-backed forces in Ukraine are poised to launch a new offensive, probably between Orthodox Easter and before V-E Day in early May the former supreme commander of NATO Forces said in a presentation at The Atlantic Council. Read More
Russian submarine Severodvinsk
The military leader of the Russian Navy has acknowledged an increase in submarine patrols to “prevent threats to national security” in the last year, according to Russian state media. Read More
Undated photo of two Tupolev+Tu-22M Backfire bombers. Finnish Defense Forces Photo
A series of so-called snap drills by Russia’s Northern Fleet and its Western Military District will include deployments of high-end ballistic Iskander mobile ballistic missile systems (NATO Reporting name: SS-26 Stone) to Russia’s exclave in Kaliningrad and Tupolev Tu-M22 Backfire bombers to the exclave and Crimea, according to Tuesday Russian state media reports. Read More
