The Russian Navy corvette Boikiy, a Steregushchiy-class warship, has once again taken on escort duty, this time shepherding the tanker General Skobelev and the roll-on/roll-off cargo ship Sparta from the Baltic into the North Sea and through the English Channel.

Both vessels are owned by Oboronlogistika, a company that is part of the Russian Defense Ministry's military logistics operations. They were spotted off the coast of Syria earlier this year during Russia’s drawdown of personnel and equipment from Tartus. The current voyage appears to be aimed less at avoiding detention than at deterring sabotage: each ship listed an Egyptian port as its destination — Port Said for the tanker, and Alexandria for the freighter. Oboronlogistika’s Ursa Major was destroyed by an explosion in the Mediterranean in December 2024.

Boikiy is masking its position by broadcasting a generic Maritime Mobile Service Identity (MMSI) number, causing tracking systems to label it as various “objects,” such as buoys that suddenly “jump” from China’s coast or the Persian Gulf to the Channel’s northern approach.

Russian Navy corvette escorts MoD-owned ships through Baltic and English Channel towards the Mediterranean