The ship was accompanied by the NRP Setúbal and the NRP Orion and NRP Dragão.
Between Sunday and Monday,the Portuguese Navy monitored a Russian ship that transited the country’s Exclusive Economic Zone.
“The Russian Federation ship URSA MAJOR, which is actively participating in the Russian logistical resupply effort, transited national waters between Sunday and Monday (June 30 and July 1),” reads a statement from the Navy.
The ship was accompanied by the NRP Setúbal and the NRP Orion and NRP Dragão.
“The Navy, through these monitoring and surveillance actions, guarantees the defense and security of maritime spaces under national sovereignty or jurisdiction, in the protection of Portugal’s interests and, at the same time, contributes to ensuring compliance with the international commitments assumed within the framework of the Alliance,” the statement concludes.
The Chief of Staff of the Portuguese Navy, Admiral Gouveia e Melo, revealed in an interview published on May 15 that in the last three years the number of missions to accompany Russian ships during their passage through Portuguese waters has quadrupled.
“Three years ago the number of escorts we carried out was less than a dozen a year. Last year alone we did 46 and this year we’ve already done 14. These ships from the Russian Federation, which can be military or merchant but with known military activity, can transit our waters in order to go from position A to position B or they can have interests in our waters. And the two things happen simultaneously,” he told Diário de Notícias and TSF.
In the interview, Admiral Gouveia e Melo gives context, saying that the Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine has changed international behavior.
“This change could be so structural that it could destroy the bases we have today. By destroying these bases, everything that we take for granted today, which is security in Europe, NATO, the European Union, which are essential pillars for our security and prosperity, could be called into question,” he said.
