Russian research vessel Yantar explained

Yantar (Янтарь) is a special purpose intelligence collection ship built for the Russian Navy.[1] The ship has been operated by the Russian Navy's Main Directorate of Underwater Research (GUGI) since 2015 and is reportedly a spy ship.[1] The vessel's home port is Severomorsk, where it is attached to the Northern Fleet.[2] It is the lead ship of its class, with two sister ships. Almaz was launched in 2019 and was intended to serve with the Pacific Fleet, and Burilichev was laid down in 2021.

Design and construction

Yantar was designed by the CMDB Almaz Design Bureau in St. Petersburg, and the hull was laid down on 8 July 2010. It was launched in December 2012, and concluded its sea trials in May 2015. The ship has a length of and a full displacement of 5,736 tons. It uses diesel-electric propulsion for a top speed of approximately 15kn. It officially has a complement of 60. The ship was built at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad.[3]

Roles

Yantar can act as a mothership to mini-subs. The United States Navy has stated that the submersibles are able to sever cables miles beneath the ocean's surface.[1] The submersibles are reportedly capable of operating at depths of up to . The submersibles are reportedly the project 16810 Rus-class submersible[3] and the project 16811 .

According to Alexei Burilichev, head of the Russian Defense Ministry's deepwater research department, Yantar is an oceanic research complex.

Activities

Yantar has been reported in position near undersea telecommunications cables.[1] [4] [5]

In September 2015, Yantar was spotted off the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.[1] [4]

In late October 2015, US intelligence sources reported that the vessel was inside Norwegian territorial waters for the first time, heading north along the Norwegian coast. The NJHQ stated that they were aware of the vessel and were monitoring all traffic along the coast.

Summer 2016, Yantar was anchored outside Nuuk, Greenland.[6] [7]

In 2017, Yantar was active in the eastern Mediterranean, near an undersea cable linking Israel to Cyprus.[1] It was also reportedly used to recover "secret equipment" from crashed Su-33 and MiG-29 aircraft.

On 23 November 2017, upon an order of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yantar and the specialists of the Russian Navy's 328th expedition search and rescue unit were sent to Argentina's coast to search for the Argentine submarine that went missing on 15 November 2017.[8]

In Summer 2018, she was deployed to Mediterranean off the Syrian coast.

In November 2019, Yantar visited Trinidad and Tobago.[9]

In February 2020, Yantar was found near the Rio de Janeiro submarine cables by the Brazilian Navy. The crew evaded questions about their intentions and turned off the ship's identification systems.[10] In late March, Yantar was anchored off the Baie de la Seine, a few weeks before the Suffren first sea trial from Cherbourg.[11]

In August 2021, Yantar was spotted off the coast of Ireland, running parallel to AEConnect-1 and the expected route of the Celtic Norse submarine communications cable, as well as taking up a stationary position between them for most of the day. Yantar subsequently entered the English Channel in mid-September.

On 11 and 12 September 2023, while being followed by the Norwegian Coast Guard vessel in the Fram Strait, Yantar closely followed for 16.5 hours. The Russian ship was operating without AIS and would overtly copy all of the research vessel's stops and movements, at one point closing to a distance of 200–370 metres. While the Norwegian Polar Institute characterised the incident as "harassment", and the Royal Norwegian Navy reportedly keeps a close eye on the Russian intelligence vessel, all relevant Norwegian authorities assessed that Yantar acted in accordance with international maritime law.

Sister ships

Almaz

A Project 22010-class sister ship Almaz (01604) was laid down at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad on 9 June 2016. The Russian state news agency TASS reported that after a technical launch in early October 2019, the vessel was intended to monitor rocket launches of the Vostochny Cosmodrome from the Pacific Ocean.

Burilichev

On 5 February 2021, the third ship of the series was reportedly laid down in the Vyborg Shipyard under the name Vice-admiral Burilichev, to honor a former head of the GUGI, Alexey Vitalyevich Burilichev, who died in November 2020 due to coronavirus.[12] [13]

References

Citations

Notes and References

  1. What Is a Russian Spy Ship Doing in the Eastern Mediterranean? . Kyle . Mizokami . September 19, 2017 . September 20, 2017 . Popular Mechanics.
  2. News: October 30, 2015 . Thomas . Nilsen . Northern fleet gets unique vessel . The Barents Observer . Northern fleet Commandor Admiral Vladimir Korolev said in his speech while welcoming the vessel to Severomorsk that ”Yantar” will help raise hydrographic and research activities in the Oceans to a new quality level..
  3. News: GlobalSecurity.org . Project 22010 Kruys / Yantar Oceanographic research vessel . https://archive.today/20160613135421/http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/russia/22010.htm . June 13, 2016 . dead .
  4. News: Russian Ships Near Data Cables Are Too Close for U.S. Comfort. . October 26, 2015 . David E. . Sanger . Eric . Schmitt .
  5. Web site: The Hidden Threat To Baltic Undersea Power Cables . Trakimavicius . Lukas . 10 February 2021 . NATO ENSEC COE Energy Security blog. 11 February 2021.
  6. Web site: Krog. Anders. Russisk spionskib ud for Nuuk. Artisknyt.dk . I sommeren 2016 lå det russiske spionskib Yantar for anker få hundrede meter fra havnen i Grønlands hovedstad Nuuk. . Danish . 1 December 2017.
  7. News: . In 2016, a Russian vessel, Yantar, which the U.S. Navy has alleged transports submersibles that can sever and tap into cables miles beneath the ocean’s surface, anchored outside Nuuk, where a subsea communications cable lands that connects Iceland and America. . As the Arctic's attractions mount, Greenland is a security black hole . October 21, 2020 . Jacob . Gronholt-Pedersen . Sara . Ledwith .
  8. Web site: Russia sends Navy experts to search for missing Argentine submarine . . 23 November 2017 . 24 November 2017.
  9. Web site: Why is Russia's Spy Ship Near American Waters?. 14 November 2019.
  10. Web site: Navio russo suspeito de espionagem coloca Marinha Brasileira em alerta - Época Negócios Brasil. Época Negócios . Portuguese . 21 February 2020.
  11. Guibert . Nathalie . 8 May 2020 . La marine russe aux premières loges des essais du " Suffren " . Russian navy have a front row seat for "Suffren" trials . fr . . 23429 . 8 . 9 May 2020.
  12. Web site: Around World journal . 19 December 2019 .
  13. Web site: Буриличев Алексей Витальевич.