Already during the American political campaign Donald Trump had repeated it in no uncertain terms, "if we win we will redefine relations with Russia and take action against Isis and Islamic terrorism". It is no coincidence that the most striking phrase of his electoral campaign awakened many consciences: "Follow the Hillary Clinton's policies mean finding ourselves with World War III", Accusing the opponent of wanting to fight against Russia, Syria and Iran, while the republican candidate had instead settled on moderate positions far from entering a world conflict.
So while the ships of the Russian, Chinese and Iranian fleets cross in the Mediterranean with a historically massive presence, suddenly two landing ships with an impressive landing contingent are about to be added to the US Navy ships present in the Mediterranean.
But the coincidences are not lacking. On Friday the attention of the press was directed to Rome and precisely to ROME MED 2016 - "Mediterranean Dialogue", an annual high-level event organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the international cooperation of ISPI (Italian Institute for Political Studies) which it advocates a univocal position: the centrality of Rome in the Mediterranean. The objective of this edition is the Russia-US meeting / confrontation between Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State John Kerry, with one substantial difference, the American president is Donald Trump. The war against ISIS and the Syrian crisis, the Libyan question, Iraq, Ukraine, agreements with NATO are on the agenda. But Syria emerges. In Aleppo, the Russian air force has been strongly supporting the Syrian regular army for some time, which has already occupied 60% of the area, and is successfully proceeding towards the east, where resistance from the rebels is still standing. .
Our head of Italian diplomacy, Paolo Gentiloni, moves with the conviction that it cannot be "build a transition on the ashes of Aleppo", But this also applies to the crises in Libya, Yemen and Iraq, while the UN special envoy for Syria Staffan De Mistura, special guest, specified the importance of conducting indefinite negotiations with the parties to the conflict.
John Kerry makes his debut, for the American side and during the conference Med Dialogues, in summary affirmed his certainty of being successful in the effort to end ISIS and secure people in Iraq, Syria and the rest of the world, with the further belief that the road ahead will not be defined. from the disorder, despite what the media reports. What we can say, continues the US secretary of state, is that the world is not falling apart, on the contrary it is coming together. An irrefutable proof is the agreement on the Iranian nuclear dossier which "has closed a source of potential threat in the Middle East", laying the foundations for development and growth for the Iranian people.
The Russian position remains that of respect for international law regarding the form of government that Syrians must be able to choose without any interference from other foreign states, favoring a process of pacification of the territory through the special Center for the pacification of the parties in conflict of Hmeymim, which has as its purpose to foster dialogue between the warring parties. The thrust is therefore that the solution of the Syrian Crisis must take place internally in Syria, with the support of the Russians while the other Western states must renounce any form of pressure or different geopolitical proposals. Russia has already even begun to make contact with representatives of non-jihadist armed rebel groups, albeit placed in a position of military inferiority. The negotiations are taking place in Turkey in Ankara with the aim of halting the siege on Aleppo and it seems that they are going well, without any participation of the United States, thus giving strength to the political initiatives of Moscow. The US-Russia relationship could therefore have a new face that would point to a single axis that would include Assad's Syria to make a common front against Daesh formations
Russia, as its president Putin declared: is completely in support of Syria, together with Iran which is aiming to increase its military presence in the area. This successful line could therefore modify the sanctions against Russia that resulted from the Ukrainian crisis and therefore relations with NATO could be modified with an easing of military pressure on the Russian borders.
The Russian fleet is massively present in the Mediterranean.
A missile frigate of the class Admiral Grigorovich it crosses the Mediterranean from Sevastopol and is operating together with the naval group commanded by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, deployed in Syrian waters with about fifteen fixed-wing aircraft aboard the MIG-29K-KUB and Su-33 type and a dozen Ka-27, Ka-52K, and Ka-31 helicopters. The Russian aircraft carrier has at its side the nuclear-powered heavy cruiser Pyotr Veliky, flagship of the Northern Fleet, not surprisingly the largest nuclear-powered warship in the world, equipped with anti-ship missiles of the type Turkish Granite and defense strong, naval version of the S-300. Recall that the S-300 is a series of long-range surface-to-air missile systems made in Russia and developed to counter enemy aircraft and cruise missiles. The Kirov-class nuclear-powered battle missile cruisers are armed with twenty SS-N-19 missiles. Shipwreck with anti-ship objectives. They are armored missiles, ten meters long, weigh seven tons, and have an operational range of 700 km, as well as being able to self-manage targets if fired with multiple launches. They represent the spearhead of front-line battleships and their armament is so heavy that it cannot be compared to any other similar weaponry among Western navies.
The class frigate Grigorovich is a class of ships unique in the world to operate in polar latitudes. They have modular air defense systems Shtil, capable of intercepting all types of aircraft, with a weapon system characterized by a standardized rate of fire at two seconds for launch and have been designed to protect sea routes from enemy attacks, being able to hit large surface targets and carry a fifty aircraft, both fixed and rotary wing.
Then there are the class destroyers Severomorsk, Udaloy I, and Vice-Admiral Kulakov, the class missile frigate Krivak II, Pytlivy, a patrol boat, the minesweeper Ivan Golubets, a tugboat and three auxiliary ships to supply the entire fleet in the Mediterranean.
The missile corvettes, two class units, still follow Buyan-M, Zelyony Dol , Serpukhov, arrived a couple of months ago, deployed in the eastern Mediterranean and armed with the supersonic 3M-54 Kalibr which has a range of 2.000 km. There Zelyony Dol , Serpukhov they have already been used with missile launches against terrorist formations in the Dar-Taaza area and in the Aleppo area.
The central attack role, however, is played below the surface by three attack submarines, two of which are nuclear-powered. I'm of the class Akula, equipped with cruise missiles Kalibr, The third Russian submarine with electric diesel propulsion instead belongs to the class Kilo. Due to their potential, the Akula attack submarines are an attack force that can play a main role by relegating a secondary and distracting role to the surface fleet.
The entire Russian naval group, while playing a role of great presence in the Mediterranean, however, remains in a position not very distant in terms of power and technology to the naval units deployed by the United States.
What makes a difference, however, is the Russian Navy's conception of logistics. In fact, to give a hand to Russian naval action there is the Russian military base of Tartus, a point of consolidation of the military presence not only to attack Syrian terrorism and the Mediterranean basin, Algeria, Egypt, Libya etc. Tartus together with other Syrian ports, will be the integrated naval logistics network where the Russian Navy will develop technical centers, logistic bases to repair and supply the Russian fleet with all the needs, together with factory vessels, ships suitable for logistic integration, oil tankers , in order to maintain a constant presence in the Mediterranean of its ships, as stated by the former Deputy Commander of the Navy, Russian Admiral Ivan Vasiliev. This is an area where there are surface ships, Black Sea submarines, Baltic Sea submarines and the Northern Fleet in action. It is therefore necessary to extend our logistics points in the areas where we serve and combat, especially in the Tartus base. In compliance with the law, the size of the base will be expanded to manage the permanent operational area for operations in the Mediterranean, extending this organization to other regions as well. The admiral also reported that the construction of tankers for refueling the fleet, which accompany combat ships on long-distance crossings, "is a promising Russian navy modernization program".
It should be emphasized, however, that the naval apparatus and personnel are the first long-term operation away from their bases that so far has had no precedent of this historical significance in the Mediterranean, ultimately revealing the importance of strategic interests towards a concept of naval military projection and more. The presence of the aircraft carrier is a fact that attests to the military capacity that not all countries are able to support together with a large group of surface and subsurface units that attend the areas of operations.
The American XNUMXth Fleet is strengthened. The command of the American naval forces reports that The amphibious assault ship USS Wasp LHD1 (opening photo) and the amphibious landing ship USS Whidbey island (photo on the left) with 4 thousand soldiers on board have already crossed the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean Sea, to reach the area of operations. Both ships may only temporarily remain in the affected area.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg had specified that the Atlantic Alliance would monitor the Russian naval group, while Commander Byron Ogden, in command of the ship Wasp said that: "the ships were sent to support the naval security mission in the Mediterranean Sea”Without adding any details about the mission. The "Wasp" is a multipurpose ship used by the Marine Corps, over 250 meters long, it embarks attack and transport helicopters, vertical take-off fighter-bombers Harrier, the tiltrotor Osprey, and numerous landing craft for the men of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU).
Wasp e Whidbey island are deployed as part of the US 6th Fleet to support maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts. The Naples-based 6th Fleet conducts the full spectrum of joint and naval operations, often in concert with allies, and common partners in order to protect U.S. interests and national security and stability in Europe and Africa. . This imposing presence of landing troops if used in the Syrian theater could contribute to giving decisive blows to the long Syrian conflict, without however the weapons of negotiation and inclusion never failing. Will it be the right time for the cry of the children of Aleppo to reach the ears of the powerful of the earth?
