MOSCOW–The Admiral Kuznetsov, Russia’s lone, rather geriatric aircraft carrier, steamed through the English Channel toward the Mediterranean Sea on Friday in the Kremlin’s latest attempt to reassert its lost superpower status.
Belching thick black smoke, the Soviet-era warship, previously known more as a threat to its crew than anything else, led a battle group of eight vessels, including an oceangoing tug that traditionally accompanies the carrier, which has a reputation for breaking down. The flotilla is expected to deploy off Syria in late October to bolster the military operations propping up President Bashar al-Assad, Russia’s main Arab ally.
If the 15 warplanes on board the Admiral Kuznetsov join the bombardment of Syria, the carrier will have its first active combat role since it was launched more than three decades ago as part of a last gasp by the fading Soviet Union to challenge American naval power.
That is seemingly the intent of the carrier’s current mission–the latest move by President Vladimir V. Putin to flex Russian military muscle abroad and project power anywhere in the world by dispatching a floating air base.
In addition, the battle group adds to Russia’s military leverage in diplomatic negotiations with the United States and other Western powers over the future of Syria. Russia has also repeatedly used the Syrian war as a kind of infomercial for its weapons sales.
For the moment, Russia has suspended combat operations in Aleppo, Syria, to give rebel fighters and civilians a chance to escape the siege. Driving the opposition from Aleppo would pave the way for Mr. Assad to rule over some manner of rump state; there is little optimism for a permanent truce.
“The deployment is mainly intended to park an 800-pound gorilla off Syria’s coast to intimidate all comers,” said Cliff Kupchan, the chairman of the Eurasia Group, a Washington-based political risk consultancy.
“If–or when–diplomacy fails, the will to defend eastern Aleppo will be diminished,” he said.
Many military analysts see the Admiral Kuznetsov as merely a 200-pound gorilla, and consider it a gamble to play gunboat diplomacy with a lumbering tub fit for the scrap heap. The latest excursion is only the eighth long-distance mission for the aircraft carrier, which has been something of a lemon from the start.
The carrier underwent repairs from 1996 to 1998, from 2001 to 2004, and in 2008, and its deck and electronic plant were replaced in the past two years, according to Russian news reports.
It is expected back in dry dock after the Syria deployment because its propulsion system needs to be replaced.
Whenever it went to sea over the years, the Admiral Kuznetsov was prone to accidents.
The United States Navy came to its aid during one Mediterranean training exercise in 1996, when the machinery used to distill fresh water from seawater malfunctioned, leaving its crew of nearly 2,000 sailors with a severe shortage of fresh water. The carrier polluted the Irish Sea at one point with a gigantic oil spill, and a fire on board killed a crew member in 2009.
The warship will hug the Syrian coastline, allowing planes to perform bombing runs and return to the ship’s deck before running out of fuel, according to an unidentified source cited by the Tass news agency.
The deployment will include the first of the new MiG-29K/KUB fighters, a modernized version of that MiG jet, and the Su-33a, as well as 15 helicopters, according to Tass. “This is a potent force,” said Prokhor Tebin, a Russian who writes a blog about the country’s navy.
The carrier deployment is the latest in a series of stepped-up Russian naval maneuvers.
Since 2015, the intensity of Russian submarine patrols has increased by almost 50 percent. Russian warplanes have buzzed several United States Navy ships and flown patrols that skirt territorial waters. And Russian submarines and spy planes are operating close to crucial undersea cables that carry almost all internet communications globally.
Russian submarines launched cruise missiles last year for the first time in a war, hitting targets in Syria. Though the defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, recently acknowledged that the war had revealed some unspecified “defects” in the production of military hardware, the Kremlin made a show this month of deploying nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles capable of reaching European capitals from Kaliningrad, Russia’s enclave on the Baltic Sea.
Before a long recession forced cutbacks in the military budget for the coming three years, the Kremlin had announced an extensive military modernization campaign including new intercontinental ballistic missiles, as well as air defense systems, aircraft and tanks.
“Russia need not be America’s military or economic equal to pose a real challenge to Western interests,” Anna Borshchevskaya wrote in an analysis for the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Dennis Edwards:
In Ezekiel 38 the Bible predicts an invasion of Israel in the last days. Many Bible eschatologists believe this battle could be the same predicted in Daniel 11 and the precursor of Revelation 19 which could very well be the same battle as Ezekiel 39. In the map on the left is one proposed invasion plan taking the names from Ezekiel 38 and trying to find today's equivalent modern day nations. Here we see Russia, Turkey, Iran, Libya.
The fact that Russia is beefing up its presence in the Middle East as the above article indicates could be an indication that we are indeed running down the road toward this event.
In the image on the left some of the other possible countries have been added. But since Morocco is closely tied in the USA, it may very well not be included. You may notice that Gomer seems to indicate part of eastern Europe. But besides Russia, Turkey is one of the countries with the biggest standing armies in the Middle East. The recent attempted coup against the Turkish leader has caused Turkey to befriend Russia once again in spite of the fact that Turkey is a member of NATO and has been in line to enter the European Union for many years.
Again the map at the left is very similar to the first map we looked at. This map puts Gomer and Togamah, the names mentioned in Ezekiel 38, as consisting of Turkey. Eastern Europe is not included in the invading force here. Ethiopia has been added, as its name appears in the original text.
Since Iraq has been destroyed by war, both Russia, which is Magog, and Iran, which is Persia, could quickly pass through en route to Israel. Turkey could also use the passage through Iraq and Syria. How Libya and Ethiopia would participate is unclear. Maybe they are additional armies that Russia will call upon for support.
This last map again shows Gomer coming from Europe, while also including Gomer as part of Turkey. Turkey, Iran, Russia, Libya are all included.
So there is some debate about who exactly will make up the invading forces in the invasion of Israel in the last days. Jesus called the days before his coming the Great Tribulation. He said if the days weren't very short, there would no flesh be saved, which could mean that mankind would annihilate itself. Only the supernatural intervention of God Himself in the Battle of Armageddon described in Revelation 19, which may very well be the Battle described in Ezekiel 39, will save the world from total destruction. We could very well be moving toward these events. How far away or close they may be, we don't know. But slowly and surely mankind seems bent on forgetting God and bringing on its own destruction.
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