Patrol boats 'Atalaya' and 'Vigía' monitor three Russian federation units in transiting to the Eastern Mediterranean

• "The ships tracked three units of the group formed by the amphibious assault ships 'Iván Green', 'Aleksander Otrakovsky', and the tanker 'Kola'.

Between March 21 and 26, the patrol boats 'Atalaya' and 'Vigía' have monitored the transit of a Russian group formed by the amphibious assault ships 'Iván Green', 'Aleksander Otrakovsky' and the oil tanker 'Kola', in the waters of National Sovereignty. Both Spanish vessels were engaged in presence, surveillance and deterrence operations, under operational control of the Operations Command, and carried out the surveillance in respective shifts.

In the early morning of Thursday, March 21, the offshore patrol vessel 'Atalaya' (P-74) detected a group of three Russian units while carrying out a maritime surveillance and security operation in Spanish sovereign waters in the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Once the Russian federation vessels were identified, the 'Atalaya' followed these units until the border crossing with Portugal, where it was relieved by the Portuguese frigate 'Bartolomeu Dias'.

Once this first shift was over, and after two sailing trips with a reinforced naval presence in Spanish sovereign waters due to the presence of three ships from the Russian Federation, the 'Atalaya' returned to its base at the Ferrol Arsenal.

Thus, on March 23 and until March 26, after its activation as a unit transferred to the Joint Force Core "NFC-1", the 'Vigía' relieves the Portuguese vessel in its monitoring of a group made up of three units of the Russian Federation Navy, as it passes through the waters of the Gulf of Cadiz. The Spanish patrol vessel was carrying out maritime surveillance and security tasks, monitoring the maritime traffic line between Cape St. Vincent with the Strait of Gibraltar.