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You are at :Home»News»Russian Navy Warships Are Escorting Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Vessels In Bay Of Biscay
Russian Navy Warships Are Escorting Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Vessels In Bay Of Biscay
Satellite image showing the Nord Stream 2 support vessels being escorted by Russian Navy Warships. Credit Frank Bottema, imagery from Sentinel Hub

Russian Navy Warships Are Escorting Nord Stream 2 Pipeline Vessels In Bay Of Biscay

H I Sutton 02 Jul 2020

Russia’s controversial Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline is enjoying a naval escort. The undersea pipeline will be built in the Baltic between Russia and Germany. Two offshore supply vessels involved in the project are currently being escorted. They are accompanied by a Project 1155 Udaloy-I Class destroyer and a Project 22160 patrol ship. At the time of writing the ships are currently 40 nautical miles southwest of Brest, France.

Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) analyst Frank Bottema (Twitter) spotted the vessels in a Sentinel satellite image from Yesterday. They are just visible through a gap in the cloud. The vessels’s progress can also be tracked on other forms of OSINT.

The pipeline is controversial because it may provide Russia with a means to exert political influence on Europe. This is because it will bypass Eastern European countries. It might therefore make it possible for Russia to throttle gas supplies to Eastern European nations. This would be without affecting supplies to Western Europe which would be politically and economically more risky. Countries in the cross hairs could be Poland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Czech Republic or Belarus.

The Project 1155 Udaloy-I Class destroyer is Vice-Admiral Kulakov. Photo: Russian Ministry of Defense

Some Baltic states are also concerned that the pipeline gives the Russian Navy an excuse to operate in their economic zones. This could provide them with the opportunity to gather intelligence and normalize a stronger military presence.

Russia Russian Navy 2020-07-02
H I Sutton
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Authors

Posted by : H I Sutton
H I Sutton writes about the secretive and under-reported submarines, seeking out unusual and interesting vessels and technologies involved in fighting beneath the waves. Submarines, capabilities, naval special forces underwater vehicles and the changing world of underwater warfare and seabed warfare. To do this he combines the latest Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) with the traditional art and science of defense analysis. He occasionally writes non-fiction books on these topics and draws analysis-based illustrations to bring the subject to life. In addition, H I Sutton is a naval history buff and data geek. His personal website about these topics is Covert Shores (www.hisutton.com)

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