Russian research vessel Yantar

Design and construction

Yantar was designed by the CMDB Almaz Design Bureau in St. Petersburg, and the hull was laid down on 8 July 2010. It was launched in December 2012 and concluded its sea trials in May 2015. The ship has a length of 108 metres (354 ft) and a full displacement of 5,736 tons. It uses diesel-electric propulsion for a top speed of approximately 15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph). It officially has a complement of 60. The ship was built at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad.

Roles

Yantar minisub

Yantar can act as a mothership to mini-subs. The United States Navy has stated that the submersibles can sever cables miles beneath the ocean’s surface. The submersibles are reportedly capable of operating at depths of up to 6,000 metres (20,000 ft). The submersibles are reportedly the project 16810 Rus-class submersible and the project 16811 Konsul-class submersible.

According to Alexei Burilichev, head of the Russian Defense Ministry’s deepwater research department, Yantar is an oceanic research complex.

Yantar Russian Spy Ship

Key Features:

Design and Specifications:
- Length: Approximately 108 meters (354 feet).
- Displacement: Around 5,200 tons.
- Speed: Up to 15 knots.
- Built by the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad, Russia.
Capabilities:
- Equipped with remotely operated underwater vehicles (ROVs) and autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) capable of deep-sea exploration.
- Features advanced sonar and sensors for mapping the seafloor and locating objects underwater.
- Designed for laying and inspecting undersea cables, as well as recovering sensitive equipment from the ocean floor.
Intelligence and Espionage Role:
- Suspected of tapping undersea communication cables, a vital infrastructure for global internet and military communications.
- Believed to have the capability to interfere with or sabotage underwater cables if necessary.
- Its deployment near sensitive areas has raised concerns among NATO countries and Western allies about potential espionage activities.

Activities

Yantar has been reported in position near undersea telecommunications cables.

In September 2015, Yantar was spotted off the coast of Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

In late October 2015, US intelligence sources reported that the vessel was inside Norwegian territorial waters for the first time, heading north along the Norwegian coast. The NJHQ stated that they were aware of the vessel and were monitoring all traffic along the coast.

In the summer of 2016, Yantar was anchored outside Nuuk, Greenland.

(Click on image to Enlarge)

In 2017, Yantar was active in the eastern Mediterranean, near an undersea cable linking Israel to Cyprus. It was also reportedly used to recover “secret equipment” from crashed Su-33 and MiG-29 aircraft.

On 23 November 2017, upon order of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Yantar and the specialists of the Russian Navy’s 328th Expedition Search and Rescue Unit were sent to Argentina’s coast to search for the Argentine submarine ARA San Juan that went missing on 15 November 2017.

In Summer 2018, she was deployed to the Mediterranean off the Syrian coast.

In November 2019, Yantar visited Trinidad and Tobago.

In February 2020, Yantar was found near the Rio de Janeiro submarine cables by the Brazilian Navy. The crew evaded questions about their intentions and turned off the ship’s identification systems. In late March, Yantar was anchored off the Baie de la Seine, a few weeks before the Suffren first sea trial from Cherbourg.

In August 2021, Yantar was spotted off the coast of Ireland, running parallel to AEConnect-1 and the expected route of the Celtic Norse submarine communications cable, as well as taking up a stationary position between them for most of the day. Yantar subsequently entered the English Channel in mid-September.

On 11 and 12 September 2023, while being followed by the Norwegian Coast Guard vessel Barentshav (W340) in the Fram Strait, Yantar closely followed RV Kronprins Haakon for 16.5 hours. The Russian ship was operating without AIS and would overtly copy all of the research vessel’s stops and movements, at one point closing to a distance of 200–370 meters. While the Norwegian Polar Institute characterized the incident as “harassment”, and the Royal Norwegian Navy reportedly keeps a close eye on the Russian intelligence vessel, all relevant Norwegian authorities assessed that Yantar acted by international maritime law.

In November 2024, she was escorted out of the Irish Sea by the Irish offshore patrol vessel LÉ James Joyce. Beneath this area of sea, south-west of the Isle of Man and east of Dublin, lie cables carrying data for Microsoft and Google.

Notable Activities:
- In 2015, Yantar was tracked near a U.S. Navy submarine base in the Atlantic, raising alarms about its intelligence-gathering mission.
- The ship has been spotted near undersea communication cables in the Atlantic and Mediterranean, sparking fears of covert operations.
- Reportedly involved in missions to recover objects from the seabed, including military hardware and sensitive technology.
Dual Role: While its official purpose includes scientific research, such as studying the ocean floor, its design and missions strongly suggest it plays a significant role in Russia’s military strategy and underwater surveillance.

Sister ships

Almaz

A Project 22010-class sister ship Almaz (01604) was laid down at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad on 9 June 2016. The Russian state news agency TASS reported that after a technical launch in early October 2019, the vessel was intended to monitor rocket launches of the Vostochny Cosmodrome from the Pacific Ocean.

Burilichev

On 5 February 2021, the third ship of the series was reportedly laid down in the Vyborg Shipyard under the name Vice-admiral Burilichev, to honor a former head of the GUGI, Alexey Vitalyevich Burilichev, who died in November 2020 due to coronavirus.

History
Russia
Name	Yantar
Builder	Yantar Shipyard
Yard number	01602
Laid down	8 July 2010
Launched	5 December 2012
Commissioned	23 May 2015
Homeport	Severomorsk
Identification	Call sign: RMM91 MMSI number: 273546520
Status	In service
General characteristics
Class and type	Project 22010-class intelligence ship
Displacement	5,736 tons (full load)
Length	107.8 m (354 ft)
Beam	17.2 m (56 ft)
Installed power	2 × 3400 hp electric motors 4 × 1600 kW diesel generators 2 × 1080 kW diesel generators
Propulsion	2 azipods with fixed pitch propellers 2 bow thrusters
Speed	15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Range	8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi)
Endurance	60 days
Boats & landing craft carried	2 deep-diving autonomous underwater vehicles 1 Rus-class (Project 16810) 1 Konsul-class (Project 16811)
Complement	60
Aviation facilities	Helipad for 1 helicopter

References

Notes

^ 11/9 12:35 — 12/9 05:05

Citations

^ “Oceanographic research vessel Project 22010 Kruys”. russianships.info. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
^ Mizokami, Kyle (19 September 2017). “What Is a Russian Spy Ship Doing in the Eastern Mediterranean?”. Popular Mechanics. Retrieved 20 September 2017.
^ Peter, Laurence (3 January 2018). “What makes Russia’s new spy ship Yantar special?”. BBC News. Archived from the original on 3 January 2018. Retrieved 3 January 2018. Enter the Yantar, officially an oceanographic research vessel, but actually bristling with surveillance equipment, and the mother ship for manned and unmanned deep-sea submersibles. […] The 108m-long (354ft) vessel has a crew of 60 and went into service in 2015. […] The Yantar can deploy the three-man submersibles Rus and Konsul, which can dive to about 6,000m (20,000ft).
^ Nilsen, Thomas (30 October 2015). “Northern fleet gets unique vessel”. The Barents Observer. Northern fleet Commandor Admiral Vladimir Korolev said in his speech while welcoming the vessel to Severomorsk that “Yantar” will help raise hydrographic and research activities in the Oceans to a new quality level.
^ “Project 22010 Kruys / Yantar Oceanographic research vessel”. GlobalSecurity.org. Archived from the original on 13 June 2016.
^ Sanger, David E.; Schmitt, Eric (26 October 2015). “Russian Ships Near Data Cables Are Too Close for U.S. Comfort”. The New York Times.
^ Trakimavicius, Lukas (10 February 2021). “The Hidden Threat To Baltic Undersea Power Cables”. NATO ENSEC COE Energy Security blog. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
^ Skjåstad Lysvold, Susanne (26 October 2015). “New York Times: – Russisk spionskip i norsk farvann” [New York Times: – Russian spy ship i Norwegian waters]. NRK/NTB (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 27 October 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2023. Det angivelige russiske spionskipet Yantar operer[sic] for tiden ved norskekysten utenfor Lofoten. Amerikanerne frykter at skipet kartlegger internasjonale kommunikasjonskabler. [The alleged Russian spy ship Yantar is at the moment operating off the Norwegian coast outside Lofoten. The Americans fear that the ship is mapping international communication cables.]
^ Krog, Anders. “Russisk spionskib ud for Nuuk”. Artisknyt.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 1 December 2017. I sommeren 2016 lå det russiske spionskib Yantar for anker få hundrede meter fra havnen i Grønlands hovedstad Nuuk.
^ Gronholt-Pedersen, Jacob (21 October 2020). Ledwith, Sara (ed.). “As the Arctic’s attractions mount, Greenland is a security black hole”. Reuters. In 2016, a Russian vessel, Yantar, which the U.S. Navy has alleged transports submersibles that can sever and tap into cables miles beneath the ocean’s surface, anchored outside Nuuk, where a subsea communications cable lands that connects Iceland and America.
^ Gleeson, Colin (18 August 2021). “Russian spy ship spotted off the west coast of Ireland”. The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 11 November 2022. Retrieved 31 October 2023. A 350ft Russian vessel, believed to play in role in surveillance operations, is currently off the west coast of Ireland.
^ “Russia sends Navy experts to search for missing Argentine submarine”. TASS. 23 November 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
^ “Why is Russia’s Spy Ship Near American Waters?”. 14 November 2019.
^ “Navio russo suspeito de espionagem coloca Marinha Brasileira em alerta – Época Negócios Brasil”. Época Negócios (in Portuguese). Retrieved 21 February 2020.
^ Guibert, Nathalie (8 May 2020). “La marine russe aux premières loges des essais du ” Suffren “” [Russian navy have a front row seat for “Suffren” trials]. Le Monde (in French) (23429): 8. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
^ Sutton, H.I. (19 August 2021). “Russian Spy Ship Yantar Loitering Near Trans-Atlantic Internet Cables”. Naval News. Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 21 August 2021. In the hours before stopping, it had altered course to run parallel to the expected route of the Celtic Norse undersea cable. The other nearby cable is the AEConnect-1 which runs between Ireland and the United States.
^ Suresh, Meera (19 August 2021). “Russian Spy Ship Yantar Spotted Loitering Near Trans-Atlantic Internet Cables”. International Business Times. Archived from the original on 19 August 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2023. The vessel, Yantar, took up a stationary position between two undersea internet cables Tuesday, remaining there for most of Wednesday before heading southwest
^ Kelpie, Colm (28 August 2021). “Ireland’s Naval Service marks its 75th anniversary”. BBC News. Northern Ireland: BBC Northern Ireland. Archived from the original on 28 August 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2023. Earlier this month the navy monitored the Russian vessel Yantar, officially an oceanographic research vessel but with surveillance equipment and military connections, as it transited off the west coast of Ireland.
^ Allison, George (13 September 2021). “Russian spy ship ‘Yantar’ in English channel”. UK Defence Journal. Archived from the original on 13 September 2021. Retrieved 31 October 2023. Its missions are thought to include cable cutting, laying of taps on undersea cables, and intelligence missions. […] BREAKING. Russian Spy Ship #Yantar is now in the English Channel
^ Eriksen, Inghild; Gulldahl, Håvard; Rypeng, Lisa (30 October 2023). “Norsk forskningsskip forfulgt av russisk “spionskip” i 18 timer” [Norwegian research vessel stalked by Russian “spy ship” for 18 hours]. NRK (in Norwegian Bokmål). Archived from the original on 30 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023. Til sist svarte «Yantar» at de ikke ville forstyrre, og flyttet seg. Litt. […] På et tidspunkt svarte de også at de er «interessert i å se hvordan dere utfører operasjonene». [At last “Yantar” replied that they didn’t want to disturb, and moved back. Slightly. […] At one time they also answered that they are “interested in observing how you carry out [your] operations”.]
^ O’Carroll, Lisa (16 November 2024). “Russian spy ship escorted away from area with critical cables in Irish Sea”. The Guardian. Retrieved 16 November 2024.
^ “Russian shipyard floats out 2 oceanographic research vessels for Defense Ministry — source”. TASS (WP:TASS). Moscow. 28 October 2019. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2023. The Yantar Shipyard on the Baltic coast (part of the United Shipbuilding Corporation) has floated out two oceanographic research vessels […] These are the Project 02670 vessel Yevgeny Gorigledzhan and the Project 22010 ship Almaz
^ “Project 22010 Research Vessel Almaz to Monitor Rocket Launches in Vostochny Cosmodrome”. TASS (WP:TASS). 2016. Archived from the original on 31 October 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023 – via NavyRecognition.com. Almaz will shoulder some of the spacecraft tracking and Flight Control Center communication work in support of launches from the Vostochny cosmodrome. […] the second vessel is somewhat different from the lead ship. According to him, she “is 11 m longer” and will not carry a helicopter.
^ “Around World journal”. 19 December 2019.
^ “Буриличев Алексей Витальевич”.

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