On the night of August 24, russian Sparta II RORO vessel, which belongs to the Oboronlogistics company from the structure of the Ministry of Defense of the russian federation, passed through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits. There were S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems on board of this ship, which russia decided to transfer from Syria in order to further use these air defense systems for new shelling of Ukraine. This is stated in the message of the Naval News.
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Open source data indicates that the russian federation could carry a battery of the S-300 launchers at once on board the Sparta II ship, they were possibly located near the Syrian city of Masiaf. Sparta II RORO cargo vessel specs: a hull length of 121 meters, it can take up to 8,000 tons of cargo on board, it has its own lifting cranes (which is a non-standard design element for RORO vessels). The exact length of the cargo compartment of this vessel built in 2000 is unknown.
Sparta II as part of the fleet of the russian company "Oboronlogistika" has already been on the sanctions list of the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the US Treasury. But, obviously, the Turkish authorities decided not to pay attention that, and they allowed the vessel to pass through Turkish waters.
Moreover, the crew and the Sparta II ship itself are formally civil. Therefore, even if the roller is carrying military cargo, formally Turkey doesn’t have to prohibit the vessel from passing through the Bosphorus.
In turn, since russia began to withdraw the S-300s even from Syria, this may mean that stocks of missiles for these SAMs have already begun to run out in the country itself.
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