Newsweek34%
Russia, Stretched by Ukraine, Pulls All Warships From Mediterranean Sea 11%
By Ellie Cook23%
7/24/2026, 11:08:03 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 4 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Availability Heuristic, and Appeal to Authority, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 18.9% saturation with 138 hits. Analysis detected 322 faulty-reasoning hits from 730 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 27.5% and a BS Rank of 11% (19,003 of 21,187 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 89.70% of the article peer group.
Russia has no warships deployed in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time in a decade, the latest example of how much Moscow is exerting itself after almost four and a half years of full-scale war in Ukraine.
The last two Russian military ships in the Mediterranean Sea left the area on June 26, 2026, a NATO official told Newsweek, speaking on a condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject matter.
The ships' exit marks the first time since 2016 that Russia's military hasn't had a naval presence in the Mediterranean, and it points to the strain Moscow is under with its bruising war effort in eastern Europe, as the conflict churns on with no end in sight.
The departure is also an indication of the resources the Kremlin has for months expended in escort missions for Russian merchant vessels, including along routes near European coastlines.
Russia has historically kept ships in the Mediterranean as a counterbalance to NATO dominance along the northern edge of the sea, swapping vessels in and out of the Syrian port of Tartus, Russia's only naval support facility on the Mediterranean.
Moscow yanked most of its forces from Syria after Bashar al-Assad, the country's former dictator and close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, fled in late 2024.
The Gorshkov, a Russian navy frigate, passed out of the area alongside the Pashin, a replenishment oil tanker, at the end of June, according to NATO intelligence.
Military vessels often don't broadcast their location, as commercial vessels are required to do.
No tracking data was available for the Gorshkov, but the Pashin last pinged while moving out of the Mediterranean, past Gibraltar, on June 26.
The Gorshkov is kitted out with long-range Zircon missiles, which Russia touts as hypersonic and difficult to intercept.
Why the Mediterranean Matters
The only feasible way for Russian ships to access the Black Sea—and the two major naval bases it has along the coastline of mainland Russia and annexed Crimea—is via the Bosporus and the Dardanelles straits from the Mediterranean Sea.
Ankara controls these waterways, known collectively as the Turkish Straits, and has effectively closed them off to Russian and Ukrainian warships since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
Under a 90-year-old treaty, Russian warships can't pass through the Turkish Straits during wartime, trapping vessels already in the Black Sea and stopping the Kremlin from sending ships from other fleets to support its operations against Ukraine.
A narrow exception exists for Russian ships with their home bases listed as Sevastopol, in Crimea, or Novorossiysk, a Russian port city east of the peninsula.
Russia's navy, unable to leave the Black Sea, has been menaced by Ukrainian drones despite Kyiv having no substantial navy.
As of 2026, Ukraine has destroyed or damaged almost a third of the entire Black Sea fleet, according to Kyiv.
Kyiv Ramps Up Strikes on Russian Ships
Ukraine has recently intensified its strikes on Russia's cargo ships and tankers, all needed to support military logistics, in the Sea of Azov, which spills out into the northeastern Black Sea.
Ukrainian drones have reached as far as Russia's Baltic Sea fleet.
Kyiv last month struck the Kronstadt naval base, near Russia's second-largest city, St.
Petersburg, twice in roughly three days.
The Kronstadt base is about 1,000 kilometers (621 miles) from Ukrainian territory.
While Russia's submarine fleet is widely acknowledged as formidable, its surface ships are more commonly described as scarce, aging and deprioritized.
Putin accused Ukraine of attacking a liquefied natural gas ship in the Mediterranean, off the coast of Libya, in March this year.
The vessel, the Arctic Metagaz, was sanctioned by the U.S. and the European Union for being part of Moscow's "shadow fleet," ships Russia is using to export oil and gas around the world and avoid Western economic punishment for the war in Ukraine.
At least 200 Ukrainian soldiers were deployed to three locations in Libya at the time, and a Ukrainian-made sea drone hit the Arctic Metagaz, France's state-run RFI broadcaster reported in April.
Newsweek was unable to independently verify this report.
Earlier this month, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Georgy Borisenko accused Ukraine of sending military personnel to several African countries to open a "second front" against Moscow.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Frances Mao and Shakeema Edwards.
Analysis
Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.