Russian Aircraft Carrier Group in the Mediterranean Chases Dutch Submarine

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Russian Aircraft Carrier Group in the Mediterranean Chases Dutch Submarine

November 10th, 2016

Awake Goy

nsnbc : Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said a Dutch submarine was chased away from the Russian aircraft carrier group in the Mediterranean. The Dutch crew on board the submarine was allegedly for attempting to spy. The incident happened while intelligence chatter gathered over the past week indicates that Russian naval forces are preparing a major attack on Islamist insurgents outside the Syrian city of Aleppo.

Admiral Kuznetsov. Courtesy AP photo

Konashenkov said the incident happened on Wednesday morning when a Dutch submarine attempted to approach the Russian aircraft carrier group in the Mediterranean. Konashenkov said:

“Earlier today, at 06:50 on November 9 the search and attack group consisting of anti-submarine ships The Severomorsk and The Vice-Admiral Kulakov spotted a diesel submarine of the Dutch Navy (presumably Walrus), which had tried to approach the Northern Fleet’s aircraft carrier group for surveillance purposes. …

The crews of two anti-submarine ships, The Severomorsk and The Vice-Admiral Kulakov, easily identified the submarine that was 20 kilometers away using the standard onboard hydroacoustics systems and data obtained from anti-submarine helicopters Ka-27 PL. Despite the submarine’s attempts to evade surveillance a stable hydroacoustic contact was established with it. The ships kept track of the submarine for more than an hour and forced it to leave the area of the aircraft carrier-led group”.

Konashenkov did not explain how the Dutch submarine was “forced to leave the area”. No statements have been issued by the Dutch Defense Ministry or Navy. However, Konashenkov described the submarine’s maneuvers as dangerous and stressed that they could have led to “grave navigation consequences”. In Naval jargon this means it could have been rammed or worse. Konashenkov added:

“The clumsy attempts to carry out dangerous maneuvers in the direct proximity of the Russian group of warships could have led to grave navigation consequences. … Throughout its voyage, a Northern Fleet detachment regularly discovered NATO’s submarines along the route. Actions by USS Virginia, which was trying to spy on the Russian vessels, were recorded in early November.”

Earlier this year Russia decided to upgrade its auxiliary naval base in Tartus, Syria, to a permanent base – photo from 2012.

The incident happened a little more than one week after nsnbc international quoted a member of one of Europe’s leading military academies who said that the failed evacuation, insurgents’ refusal to leave eastern Aleppo and the renewed campaign launched by insurgents west of Aleppo in the attempt to break the siege would force the hands of the Syrian and Russian armed forces to opt for a decisive military solution to avoid a worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo as winter approaches.

Intelligence chatter, including statements by Russian military personnel to media over the past week indicate that Russian naval forces in the Mediterranean could be preparing for a major attack on insurgents in not densely populated areas west of Aleppo soon. A Dutch submarine spying on the Russian forces (if it was really there), could only indicate one of three possibilities.

A provocative “exercise” to test technology and the Russian naval forces’ determination; Spying to acquire information that would be useful in “the war on terror”; Or the more likely scenario, which is an attempt to acquire intelligence about a possible attack to warn so-called “moderate rebels who are backed by core NATO and Gulf Arab states.

F/AK – 10.11.2016