"Russia has not had a naval presence in the Mediterranean since June. This is the first time in ten years. The ratio of NATO ships to Russian vessels is three to one, and not all of them are performing NATO tasks. As for submarines, this ratio is likely to be higher," a NATO official reported. According to him, this figure is average and estimated, and the situation in any specific area varies. The official emphasized that the absence of ships in the Mediterranean was due to the redirection of the Russian fleet to other tasks, the main one being the escort of vessels from the 'shadow fleet' transporting oil that is under sanctions. NATO estimates recorded 13 instances of intercepting tankers from the 'shadow fleet,' which forced Russia to redistribute ships to monitor this trade rather than deploy them further. "Although we will not comment on specific observations of Russian ships and their movements, I would like to note that we are observing a trend of escorting commercial vessels by the Russian fleet through the Baltic Sea and other areas of the Euro-Atlantic region. This escort activity takes valuable days at sea away from the Russian fleet and creates a burden on its ability to allocate naval forces for other missions," stated Rear Admiral Tim Pitrak, spokesperson and director of public relations at MARCOM, as quoted by the UNIAN agency.
