Russian Warships and the G20

What to do if you are the leader of a former superpower about to travel to a small-ish country whose leader has promised to shirtfront you? The answer seems to be to flex a little muscle.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin is in Beijing today for the APEC meeting ahead of this week's G20 Summit in Brisbane. Also in the neighbourhood this week, an unusual sight: several elements of the Russian Navy.

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Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) executive director Peter Jennings says Russia’s actions, while not unprecedented in terms of military behaviour, are unusual because “we haven’t seen activity like this around Australia before”.

Jennings says there are two main reasons why Russian vessels would be approaching Australia.

1. As a show of force – which is very much the Russian approach.
2. Intelligence gathering operations – They’ll do their best to sit off the coast in international waters and pick up any signals or data coming out of the G20.

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A government source said the Australian warship HMAS Parramatta is conducting “exercises” with the Russian cruiser Varyag, as the powerful Russian warship steams towards Brisbane.

A second frigate, HMAS Stuart, remains in a holding pattern off Moreton Bay where she will be joined by the replenishment ship HMAS Sirius for refuelling.

the government also asked the Navy about the possibility of a Collins Class submarine joining the mission but was told that the nearest boat was in Perth and would not be able to reach the area until well after the G20 summit was over.

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In this entry I will look at the mission of Russian naval vessels who visited international waters to the North of Australia coinciding with the 2014 G20 summit in Brisbane. My focus on replenishment at sea role in the field of naval logistics offers the reader an angle they won't have found in the main stream media reporting of the topic.


Concerning Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) executive director Peter Jenning's analysis I believe his point about the Russians making a show of force is correct and as such doesn't require further examination in this entry.


The Russian Navy deployed four confirmed ships the the guided missile cruiser Varyag, an ocean going tug , destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov and a replensment tanker probaly a Boris Chilikin class ship. Note to the reader it is probale that the Russian submarine was also present but this hasn't been confirmed. I wasn't able to find the details for the tanker so I have made an educated guess based on my research.


Peter Jennings second contention is more open to debate. I would suggest that the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation would have had both human, electronic and other assets in place at the G-20 to monitor world leaders conservations away from official meetings.
If the Russian's goal was intelligence gathering around the G-20 why didn't they deploy a Vishnya Class intelligence ship?


The intelligence gathering aims of the deployed warships would have been limited by how the destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov and guided missile cruiser Varyag are combat warships as opposed to specialist intelligence gathering ships.


What can be said to gone unnoticed by the main stream media and the reports from analyst's is the importance of Replenishment at Sea and how the reach and amount of time the Russian Pacific Fleet can spend at sea is greatly extended. The Royal Australian Navy response to the presence of the Russian vessels was partial enabled by their capability to support and replenish HMAS Stuart at sea.


Seen in a naval light I would say that replenishment ships like HMAS Sirius are not seen as being “sexy” like the Anzac Class frigates and other front line warships, which sees their importance go largely unnoticed in spite of the important role they have in the world's navies.


For the reader who is not familiar with replenishment ships they can be considered a floating petrol stations and general stores. Put another way consider the handicaps you would face if you could only fill your car's petrol tank from home , the distance you could travel would be half the maxim distance that your fuel supply allowed you to go.


The mission of the Russian naval vessels this article covers undoubtedly was a show of force because of the nature of the vessels that were confirmed to have been present would have had fairly limited intelligence gathering capabilities compared to a dedicated intelligence gathering platform like the Vishnya Class intelligence ships .

The Russian's are actively undertaking military modernisation , to what degree the Russian Navy upgrades its at replenishment at sea capabilities is well worth being under The Lens of History.