Image copyright Norway armed forces Image caption The aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov was photographed from a Norwegian aircraft on Monday

The Russian aircraft carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov" as part of the strike group will soon pass the British coast on its way to Syria.

This is the largest group of Russian warships that have appeared off the coast of Europe since 2014.

Earlier, a Russian strike group passed several hundred miles west of the Norwegian city of Trondheim. Photos of "Admiral Kuznetsov" and the ships accompanying the aircraft carrier were published by the armed forces of Norway.

The group of ships of the Northern Fleet, which left Severomorsk, will pass through the English Channel, heading to Gibraltar and further to the Mediterranean Sea to Syria.

Why is Russia stepping up its naval presence off the coast of Syria? There is clearly some theatricality in this - to show the West that it is still capable of playing the role of a great maritime power.

However, Moscow has been flexing its naval muscles since the beginning of the Russian operation in Syria, for example by launching cruise missiles from ships in the Caspian and Mediterranean seas. But the involvement of the navy has never been a critical factor in the Russian campaign - most targets could be hit from aircraft based in Syria or even Russia.

The dispatch of a strike force to Syria also highlights Moscow's clear intention to keep its small naval base at Tartus.

Until now, Russian warships off the coast of Syria belonged to the Black Sea Fleet. In early October, for example, two Buyan-M-class missile corvettes, Serpukhov and Zeleny Dol, left their base in Sevastopol and headed across the Bosphorus to the Mediterranean Sea.

The current deployment is much larger, involving the largest ships in the Russian fleet. The flagship of the strike group is the only Russian aircraft carrier accompanied by six other ships. Among them is the Pyotr Veliky heavy nuclear-powered missile cruiser, the world's largest warship of this class.

The group includes large anti-submarine ships "Severomorsk" and "Vice-Admiral Kulakov", as well as support ships. It is likely that Russian submarines will also accompany the group.

Under NATO supervision

This strike group should replenish the Russian grouping of 10 warships already deployed off the coast of Syria.

Her route remains unannounced, but she is to pass either through the English Channel south of England or west of Ireland in the Atlantic. Probably, during the campaign, the actions of carrier-based aviation will be practiced.

The advance of the Russian group of ships is closely monitored by aircraft and ships of NATO countries.

Tensions between the West and Russia have reached a high point. Diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria ended in failure. There was talk in Washington about the possibility of a military solution to the problem.

The growth of the Russian military presence in Syria strengthens the position of Moscow and makes Western military intervention, apparently, unimaginable.

Russia has beefed up its air defense in Syria by deploying anti-aircraft systems S-400. The arrival of new ships there will strengthen the ability to counter threats from the air and from under the water. Planes and helicopters aboard the Admiral Kuznetsov will also reinforce the Russian air force in Syria.

This new Russian move also serves as a counterargument to those Western politicians who are demanding a no-fly zone over Syria, reinforced by the threat of missile launches from Western ships in the Mediterranean. Deploying a Russian Navy strike force raises the stakes in this dangerous game.

risk game

However, the launch of such large ships as the Admiral Kuznetsov and Peter the Great on a long voyage is associated with considerable technical and organizational problems.

In fact, this is the first long-range military campaign of the 26-year-old aircraft carrier, which rarely goes to sea without a special powerful tug in case of a breakdown.

This is also the first combat mission for the carrier-based MIG-29K aircraft placed on board. These planes take off not with the help of a catapult, as on American aircraft carriers, but using a special takeoff ramp. This means that they can carry a smaller cargo of fuel and weapons, and the aircraft carrier itself will cruise closer to the Syrian coast for operations.

However, possible skepticism in this regard should be moderated somewhat. The very fact that the strike force is on a long voyage means that Russia is one of the few countries in the world that are capable of deploying such a significant naval force.

When Moscow intervened in the Syrian conflict, there were many among Western experts who believed that this campaign would end in failure due to Russia's inability to organize and maintain the supply of a significant expeditionary force.

However, Russia has shown that these experts were wrong. The Russian military has demonstrated the ability to deploy and supply such forces, as well as to support the operations of Russian tactical aviation and missile forces abroad. Moreover, they were able to carry out ground operations in support of the forces of Bashar al-Assad.

The actions of Russian aviation - primarily the choice of targets - arouse serious objections in the West. But from the point of view of demonstrating military capabilities, the Russian intervention in Syria should be considered a success.

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The history of the campaign "Admiral Kuznetsov" to the coast of Syria in the media mass media and social networks became a thriller.

People very far from the navy and military theme in general, with enthusiasm worthy of better use, they argued about whether an aircraft carrier should smoke and what kind of smoke, how many planes and helicopters fit on board and in its holds, whether it needs refueling, and so on. Let's leave the social media freaks alone. It is much more interesting to answer the question - what is the Admiral Kuznetsov doing off the coast of Syria? Why is he there? I'm afraid that a simple answer - in order to fight, is not enough.

First, let's figure out what "Admiral of the Fleet" is Soviet Union Kuznetsov", this is the full name of the aircraft-carrying cruiser.

The decision to build their own aircraft carrier was made by the Soviet leadership on March 3, 1981. Over the years of its existence, the first and only Soviet aircraft-carrying cruiser changed its name several times. During the design period, the name of the cruiser sounded like "Soviet Union". The aircraft-carrying cruiser was designed in Leningrad by the Nevsky Design Bureau under the leadership of Yu.D. Sergeyev. When laying it, it was given the name of the capital of the then Soviet Latvia "Riga".

© REUTERS / Norwegian Royal Airforce

Russian aircraft carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov"

The construction of the cruiser was completed on the Black Sea shipyard in the City of Nikolaev in December 1987. Then the cruiser was called "Leonid Brezhnev".

Later, during the tests, the cruiser bore the name of the capital of Georgia - "Tbilisi".

And finally, upon commissioning, the cruiser was named after Admiral of the Fleet Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov, who headed the USSR Navy during the Great Patriotic War and in the post-war period. In 1993, the first serial bombers began to arrive for his air group, the same ones that struck targets in Syria yesterday.

Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Of course, the decision to have its own aircraft carrier was made by the Soviet leadership for a reason. In general, the clash between the USSR and the USA was often portrayed as a clash between the Behemoth and Leviathan, the land force with the sea. The USSR was perceived as the main continental power, and the United States as the main maritime one. This had a rather deep meaning, because the United States began its first steps as a world power with "gunboat diplomacy." This is the name given to the actions of the Americans during the suppression of the Boxer uprising in China, as well as the war with Spain over Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines. The USSR, as the legal successor of the Russian Empire, on the contrary, was perceived exclusively as a continental, that is, a land force. Thus, the decision of the Kremlin leadership to build the first Soviet aircraft carrier can be regarded as an attempt to play on the enemy's field.

Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Cruiser "Admiral Kuznetsov" and TFR "Admiral Grigorovich" are involved in the operation in Syria for the first time

To play does not mean to win, because it is clear that one aircraft-carrying cruiser could in no way compete with the aircraft carriers of the United States, of which the United States had fifteen by that time. Yes, and the basis of the navy of the USSR in the period cold war were not surface ships at all, but nuclear submarines with nuclear weapons on board. However, the political significance of this decision is clear. In addition, the USSR should have had a tool for its "gunboat diplomacy", if necessary, of course.

"Admiral Kuznetsov" was put into operation a few months before the end of the Soviet Union and the case did not present itself for its intended use. And today, a Russian aircraft-carrying cruiser has appeared in the eastern Mediterranean.

Many military experts were very skeptical about this throw of the Russian aircraft carrier group - after all, what's the point when the Russian Federation has a ground-based air force base on the territory of the same Syria, where you can place as many aircraft as you like. Meanwhile, there is a sense, only it is not military, but military-political.

First, let's return to the nature of the war in Syria. On the one hand, of course, this is the religious war of our time within the framework of Islamic civilization. In addition, this war is the end of the Sykes-Picot colonial system, which divided the Middle East into the mandated territories of Great Britain and France in the distant twenties. However, the war in Syria can rightfully be called a war for the "Soviet legacy". Moreover, this is the first war for this very inheritance, in which she decided to intervene the Russian Federation as the successor of the Soviet Union.

Indeed, almost all countries that were in the Soviet zone of influence, and among them were the countries of Eastern Europe, and Afghanistan, and Iraq, and Libya, were, to put it mildly, reformatted without the direct participation of Moscow. Syria turned out to be the first country that the Kremlin decided to defend to the end with almost all the means at its disposal, including the military. Considering this circumstance, such a military-political step as the appearance of a Russian aircraft-carrying cruiser in the waters of the eastern Mediterranean becomes understandable. In fact, this is another confirmation of the fact that for the Kremlin, Syria is the very red line beyond which it will not depart.

Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Cruiser "Admiral Kuznetsov" and TFR "Admiral Grigorovich" are involved in the operation in Syria for the first time

A squadron in the eastern Mediterranean, consisting of two of the strongest surface ships of the Russian fleet - heavy missile cruiser"Peter the Great" and the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser "Admiral Kuznetsov", with escort ships (large anti-submarine ships"Severomorsk" and "Vice-Admiral Kulakov" and three submarines), this is not just a military action, it is an application for the status of a country that can build its own construct in international politics.

So the aircraft-carrying cruiser "Admiral Kuznetsov" is off the coast of Syria today, which is not so illogical as it seems to some military experts. On the cannons of Louis XIV was the inscription "The last argument of the kings." In Syria, and hence in today's world politics, these arguments have been spoken for a long time, and they speak quite loudly.

The Russian "aircraft carrier" - the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser "Admiral Kuznetsov" hobbled to Syria from Severomorsk along with escort ships, including the nuclear missile cruiser "Pyotr Veliky". The passage took almost a month, and the average speed was less than 9 knots. More than a thousand years ago, the Vikings on drakkars passed the same route faster with a fair wind. The low-speed Kuznetsov will be practically useless in the Mediterranean Sea and certainly will not be able to influence the situation with the blockade and the possible assault on Aleppo: in order to launch aircraft with a full combat load, the aircraft carrier must go at full speed against the wind. Of course, for a television picture, Kuznetsov can launch aircraft, but without ammunition, in fact, for the sake of show-off.

The Russian squadron can bombard Syria with cruise missiles from surface ships and submarines, but NK Kalibr has a range of more than 2000 km, so it made no sense to trudge to the Syrian coast and even more so to drive Kuznetsov and Peter the Great there, which have old P-700 Granit supersonic anti-ship missiles for strikes against large ships (American aircraft carriers). In principle, it is possible to use "Granite" for ground targets, but ineffectively. However, high-precision NK "Kalibr" is also expensive (up to 6 million dollars a piece) and is designed to destroy stationary, previously identified targets in conditions of powerful enemy air defense, when a bomber and an attack aircraft cannot break through. Using NK Caliber to strike Syrian opposition fighters in pickup trucks with machine guns is insanely expensive fireworks, like the Sochi Olympics.

"Kuznetsov" was built in Soviet times in Nikolaev not to go on long trips, like American aircraft carriers, but, for example, in the Barents Sea, as a floating airfield for fighter aircraft, to cover the deployment area of ​​​​strategic submarine nuclear cruisers-missile carriers. It was assumed that all ground airfields could be destroyed by nuclear strikes, and the relatively mobile Kuznetsov could survive and withstand the arrogant American fleet and its aircraft carriers, which by the end of the first week of the world war could come very close to the Russian coast. The basis of the Kuznetsov air group Su-33 (Su-27K) is pure fighters. The Kuznetsov does not have a catapult, Su-33s take off from a springboard due to traction and cannot carry a lot of weapons or fuel - only relatively light missiles for air combat.

On the Kuznetsov, of course, there are several new MiG-29Ks and attack Ka-52Ks, which may even inflict a couple of strikes on the Syrian opposition, but this will not affect anything. It seems that the command of the Navy and the General Staff do not believe that the Syrian crisis can lead to a "big" war with the United States and NATO, and they can show off, portraying an aircraft carrier strike group, like the Americans. The fact that Kuznetsov was sent to Syria with powerful escort without special military need, essentially exposing the Barents Sea, is a good sign.

The cruiser "Peter the Great" also has nothing to do in the shallow Mediterranean. Unlike Kuznetsov, this is an ocean raider with two nuclear reactors and boundless range, really limited only by the supply of potatoes and cabbage on board. In a special period before the war with the United States and NATO, "Peter the Great" must prepare for a suicidal single attack-interception of a transatlantic military convoy carrying an American mechanized (tank) division to Europe.

And so - "Kuznetsov" will somehow reach Syria and then return home, get up in a big multi-year repair and re-equipment under the MiG-29K instead of the Su-33, of which there are only 10 left and are no longer produced. Granit missiles, which are also no longer produced, should also be removed from Kuznetsov. And "Peter the Great" should soon get up for a big repair - change the same "Granites" for more versatile launchers "Caliber".

The farewell voyage of "Kuznetsov" and "Peter the Great" actually has little to do with the storming of Aleppo, and one can understand the indignation of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu: "The campaign of our ships caused a stir among Western partners. But we were especially surprised by the position of individual countries (Spain, Malta and, it seems, Algeria), which, under pressure from the United States and NATO, publicly announced their refusal to allow our warships to enter their ports. The point, of course, is not so much in American pressure (Washington has no time at all because of the elections), but in the growing public indignation in Europe and in the Sunni Muslim world, which in the end can put Moscow in no less isolation than during the Afghan war. wars in the eighties.

But military sailors, ours and Western ones, have other specific problems. The British Admiralty did not have a single aircraft carrier on the move: the last light HMS Illustrious was sold for scrap this year. New HMS queen elizabeth already almost built, and another - HMS Prince of Wales - is under construction, but the American F-35B short takeoff and vertical landing will begin to arrive only after 2018. In a budgetary and financial crisis due to Brexit, the British shipbuilding program may be adjusted, and parliament may find the operating costs associated with aircraft carriers too high. If the main enemy is terrorists in pickup trucks, why a wildly expensive mighty fleet? And here "Kuznetsov" smokes along the English Channel in time. The Admiralty immediately sent an escort of warships and expressed "concern", and many other Western navies sent ships to sea - all with their own budgetary problems. London has taken the final decision to build two new large aircraft carrier in 2014, after Crimea, at the NATO summit - the Admiralty was so lucky, otherwise they would have been sitting on old laurels, looking at the historical pictures of the great Trafalgar victory of 1805. Glory and honor to the "green men".

Our Navy has its own tasks: by July, a new (until 2025) weapons program should be finalized, and the gap between the request of the Ministry of Defense and the proposal of the Ministry of Finance is 10 trillion rubles. The construction and armament of one new nuclear submarine - both the strategic "Borey-A" and the multi-purpose "Ash" - costs about as much as giving each pensioner 5 thousand rubles, and more than a dozen such boats are planned, and more frigates, and patrol boats - corvettes, and new bases, and everything else. Tank generals, who traditionally (and now) lead the General Staff, have always, since Soviet times, considered the requests of the Navy to be excessively overpriced and simply harmful in conditions of resource shortages. The generals were especially annoyed by the programs for building a powerful ocean-going surface fleet: all the same, the Americans cannot be surpassed, and they are guaranteed to sink this fleet in half an hour. That is why the admirals seized on the occasion to bring everything possible and impossible to the Mediterranean in order to impress one person in the Kremlin. And let the army generals and the Aerospace Forces deal with Aleppo.

The detachments of foreign (Shia) mercenary volunteers from Iraq, Lebanon and Afghanistan under Iranian leadership and the wreckage of the Syrian army, and some other local motley militias, besieging Aleppo are either ill-prepared, or demoralized, or both at once. The allies are uninitiated and reluctant to move forward, but quickly retreat when desperate Syrian militants deliver sensitive counterattacks, launching forward armored trucks stuffed with tons of explosives or armored vehicles with suicide drivers. In terms of efficiency, such a kind of guided weapon is no worse than the expensive Caliber NK.

When bombing is bad and not bombing is not good, at times it seems that Moscow is ready for any conditions, as long as the militants leave Aleppo or, even better, defect (even if only formally) and become part of some kind of “national reconciliation”, like the “Kadyrovites” in Chechnya. Moscow, it seems, is ready to give Ankara a zone of influence and occupation in Northern Syria, if only the Turks agree to somehow withdraw or “repaint” opposition fighters in Aleppo, but so far without much success. In September, Russian military leaders (with the support of Damascus) threw away a strategically very advantageous agreement on a truce and a political settlement, which Sergey Lavrov negotiated from Secretary of State John Kerry, in the trash. The generals seem to have promised that if they were not interfered with by bombing, Aleppo would be cleared in a week, but it did not work out. Of course, our bosses needed not so much Aleppo as an urgent aggravation of the conflict with the United States, and everything worked out: under the talk of a third world war, the final version of the defense budget for 2016 was approved by the new Duma for almost 4 trillion (6% of GDP).

A solemn meeting was arranged for the crews of warships who returned from a long voyage to the coast of Syria. Behind 18 thousand nautical miles and several months of successful service away from home. The aircraft carrier "Admiral Kuznetsov" and the nuclear-powered missile cruiser "Peter the Great" did their job - they helped to destroy many terrorist targets. Congratulations from the command, the awards ceremony and, of course, the impatience of the relatives.

18 thousand nautical miles behind. And home seems to be within easy reach. But that's why they are military sailors, that their whole life is subject to the charter. And there was no command to go ashore.

Solemn formation on board the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov. Right in the big hangar - where a week ago the main fist of the ship, planes and helicopters were located - today the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy is awarding the crew as participants in the military operation in Syria.

The results of the campaign in Syria are impressive. 420 sorties in a rapidly changing environment. More than a thousand attacks on terrorist targets. All targets were hit successfully.

For "Admiral Kuznetsov" this long trip was the eighth in a row. With the usual route across the Atlantic, the English Channel and Gibraltar, he made the transition to the Eastern Mediterranean, but he no longer fought with a conditional enemy, as it was before, but with a real one. Moreover, both as an aircraft carrier and as a full-fledged surface cruiser.

The campaign to the coast of Syria generally made a lot of noise. Either the aircraft carrier group was refused to be refueled in Spain and Malta, or NATO ships and planes did not give us rest. But nothing, says the commander of the "Admiral Kuznetsov", managed.

“Our nerves are like ropes. Our weapons are with us. Our planes are on board. They are combat-ready, so we are not afraid of such NATO tickling. The main thing is to know your business and be always combat-ready, which we showed in our campaign, ”says Sergey Artamonov, commander of the Admiral Kuznetsov cruiser.

That's how long the ship exists, they argue so much who is in charge here - sailors or pilots. But participation in the operation in Syria put everything in its place. An aircraft carrier is a single organism, on the well-coordinated work of which a lot depends. Combat pilots in the well-known Su-33 and the latest carrier-based MiG-29 fighters destroyed equipment and warehouses of terrorists in the midst of the operation to liberate Aleppo. All this time, conditions for aviation flights were provided on board the aircraft carrier. And on board the missile cruiser "Peter the Great" they carried out both the air defense of our aircraft and the protection of the entire strike force.

“This campaign was unique in terms of technical readiness. All eight boilers, the entire main power plant of the ship are in service. The military-patriotic spirit of the personnel of the group is worthy of the highest respect. The personnel are ready to carry out any assigned combat missions,” said Vladimir Korolev, Commander-in-Chief of the Russian Navy.

It seems that everything is ready for the meeting of the sailors at home. For relatives and friends, it was four months of worries. And complete ignorance - as there, beyond the horizon.

“You can only call a landline phone, but we don’t have one, and mobile communications are prohibited on the ship; when there is no information, the worst thing is, everyone learned only from TV,” says Irina Domracheva.

The long trip is over. Irina was finally able to see her husband. Let not for long, just a few minutes and right on the ship. Such is the service - they will let everyone go. But not at once.

“Of course I missed you. I went to bed, got up - all the time I thought about my family, about my wife, about children - I think, just like any member of the crew. We greatly value those who are waiting for us on the shore,” said Aleksey Domrachev, deputy commander of the cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov.

But those who are still lucky enough to set foot on earth today will remember these moments for a long time, how they returned to their native shores as heroes.