A group of Russian landing ships, three of which left the Baltic Sea region on January 18, preceded by another three the day before, have passed the English Channel and entered to the Atlantic Ocean. The half dozen warships comprise the large Ropucha-class (Project 775) landing ships Olenegorskiy Gornyak and Georgiy Pobedonosets as well as the Ivan Gren–class (Project 11711) landing ship Pyotr Morgunov from the Northern Fleet, plus three other Ropucha-class vessels, Korolev, Minsk and Kaliningrad, from the Baltic Fleet (Blackseanews, January 19).
The group includes the newest Russian landing ship Pyotr Morgunov, which was built “to project military force into far territories” and solve “tasks of capturing bridgeheads.” It can carry on board 13 tanks or 36 armored vehicles, and it is also capable of transporting a marine battalion (RT, December 24, 2020). Crucially, the Ivan Gren class is additionally designed to be able to take a large number of sea mines on board, thus becoming a multi-ton mine layer. That number of mines is high enough to not only block any strait zone but even vast sea spaces (Lenta.ru, October 25, 2021). Finally, this warship carries two assault helicopters Ka-29 and is equipped with special pontoons for unloading troops and equipment offshore (RIA Novosti, January 30, 2021).
The South-Bound Russian Landing Ship Flotilla: Possible Intentions and Implications – Jamestown
