The ship of the Russian Navy “Akademik Pashin” stopped for a long time in the area of the strategic gas pipeline for Italy and Europe
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Intimidating maneuvers by the Russian fleet off the Italian coast, off the coast of Otranto. The “Akademik Pashin” spy ship was stationed for hours in the area where the “Tap” trans-Adriatic gas pipeline is locateda fundamental infrastructure for the supply of raw materials in Italy and in Europe, even more so due to the cut in methane supplies from Russia.
The shipment
As reported by Repubblica, the “Akademik Pashin” is a supply ship, with the task of accompanying the long-range shipments of the Moscow fleet, but which it is often used to spy on NATO activities.
His mission would have left last week from the Syrian port of Tartous, an outpost of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean, to arrive in the Otranto Channel, the entrance to the Adriatic Sea where there are deep the main pipes and cables that bring gas, energy and the internet from the Balkans to Italy.
During her manoeuvres, the “Akademik Pashin” first stopped on the OteGlobe submarine cable, a fiber optic connection that connects Bari to Greece, and then headed for the Trans Adriatic pipeline.
The characteristics of the “Akademik Pashin”
Among the most modern ships of its kind in the Russian Navy, the “Akademik Pashin” is a vessel over 130 meters long, which debuted in April 2020 with a spy mission on the heels of the French nuclear submarine Suffren.
Last August she set sail from the Baltic heading south, narrowly marked by the British Navy and American reconnaissance planes, until entering the Mediterranean on 24 August.
⚓️ The situation is not clear but there are several elements that suggest that the Russian Navy is active again in the Adriatic#BORN #Russia #Ukrainehttps://t.co/aBzkskVBcC
— Itamilradar (@ItaMilRadar) December 21, 2022
The maneuvers in the Adriatic Sea
The mouth of the Adriatic Sea is increasingly becoming a hot front in the challenge between Russia and NATO, even if far from the battleground in Ukraine.
Since the beginning of the war, the stretch of sea in front of the Italian coasts has recorded ever-increasing traffic from the fleets of the two sides.
The “Akademik Pashin” would not be sailing alone at off the Garganobut it would be accompanied by one Russian warshipprobably a Steregushchiy class corvette.
Not far from the Russian spy ship are operating the American cruiser “Leyte Gulf”, escorting the aircraft carrier “George WH Bush”, the flagship of the US fleet together with the Italian destroyer “Andrea Doria”, engaged in an exercise of the Atlantic Alliance. Since the arrival of the Russian units, some US Navy helicopters have made long surveillance flights, with the support of a twin-engine P72 of our Air Force.
Photo source: ANSA