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After Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced that they would leave the port of Severomorsk north of Murmansk, they are now heading to the Norwegian coast. Straight line towards the Strait of Gibraltar to enter the Mediterranean Sea. Estimated time: a week, more or less. The Russian frigate Admiral Gorshkov, the second of her class after the Admiral Kasatonon, already sailing on the Mare Nostrum, is awaited with the greatest attention by the NATO military presence in the region. Americans, French and Italians in total symbiosis. With a common structure, mainly at sea but also in the air, but above all equipped to exchange information in real time. Constant sharing, constant interaction.
Zircon rockets: 9,000 km/h speed
Gorshkov, unlike Kasatonon, is equipped with Zircon hypersonic missiles. With amazing performance: able to drive at very high speeds of over 9,000 kilometers per hour; to attack targets on water or on land from very high altitudes of up to 40,000 meters. In the course of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which is not exactly exciting for Moscow, Gorshkov’s posting is a kind of muscular spectacle. Sign of power, of ostentatious, hypertrophied power. But the Atlantic Alliance certainly won’t be intimidated. The Russian frigate followed close on his heels. Since its departure from the Russian coast.
NATO stance
The idea of launching a Zircon hypersonic missile in the Mediterranean is almost purely theoretical. If the Russians really decide to push the button, there will be an immediate, explosive, and large-scale confrontation. Without borders, with the NATO device at maximum offensive capacity, ready for this apocalyptic scenario. Hypothesis, however theoretical, but not considered for that reason without concreteness and practical measures when they should be translated into concrete facts. Of course, the Gorshkov is at the entrance to the Strait of Gibraltar, but also in front of it, under the special surveillance of NATO. Every move, position or action was tracked down to the millimeter by the French, Americans and Italians.
A dozen Russian ships in the Mare Nostrum
There are already about ten Moscow naval units in the Mediterranean. Admiral Kasatonon has conducted various activities at sea operating from the Tartous base in Syria. The growing Russian presence in the Mediterranean since the end of 2021 in quantitative and qualitative terms has been repeatedly reported by the Chief of Defense Staff, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone. Confirmed by the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Admiral Enrico Credendino: He has repeatedly underlined the need to increase the naval activities of our fleet in order to adequately support the Alliance in patrolling the Mediterranean Sea.
The threat to strategic infrastructure
In these hours, in the ballet of Moscow ceasefire announcements that have proved at least ambiguous, the arrival of Gorshkov is a strategic card in Putin’s war communications. The Russian ships also operate near the Italian coasts: this allows them to keep an eye on the now stable US aircraft carrier group in the area mainly between the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. Coincidentally, the areas of operations of Moscow’s naval units often overlap with the underwater routes of strategic energy and telecommunications infrastructure: gas pipelines, oil pipelines, telematic and electrical cables.