Russia Deploys a Carrier Task Force

From here.

A group of Russian Northern Fleet ships headed by the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser Admiral Kuznetsov left their base to carry out tasks in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, the Russian Navy commander’s aide Igor Dygalo told Itar-Tass.

The group of Northern Fleet warships the heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser "Soviet Union Fleet Admiral Kuznetsov", the big antisubmarine ship Admiral Levchenko and two support vessels left the main Northern Fleet base of Severomorsk and headed for the Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea, he said.

The trip of the warships will last several months. In accordance with the training plan, the ships will carry out set tasks and visit several ports of European and Mediterranean states, the navy commander’s aide added.

Keeping score? Russia now has 4 different major naval operations forward deployed at the same time. There is the Peter the Great group down in the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Fleet destroyer heading for India, the frigate off the coast of Somalia, and not a small Carrier deployment to the Mediterranean Sea.

The number of total warships for all groups combined is 1 CV, 1 BCGN, 3 DDGs, and 1 FFG with a bunch of supporting ships, which if you think about it, is basically the equivalent of one US Navy Carrier Strike Group and the accompanying MSC ships we would use to supply. People can cry boggie man all day, I see this is as a good thing. Russia isn't out to start a war in all these forward theaters, so any extra help towards maritime security is a good thing. Ships belong at sea, not tied up on the pier.

H/T: NOSI Blog