Exclusive: Russia launches potential spy ship Vice-Admiral Burilichev for operations near NATO submarine cables.

As reported by Korabel on July 1, 2025, Russia launched the oceanographic research vessel Vice-Admiral Burilichev at the Vyborg Shipyard, a facility operating under the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC). Though officially described as an oceanographic research ship designed for scientific and rescue missions, the vessel has drawn attention in Western defense circles as a potential intelligence-gathering platform due to its affiliation with the Main Directorate of Deep-Sea Research (GUGI) under the Russian Ministry of Defense. GUGI is a specialized military organization believed to conduct underwater reconnaissance and seabed operations. The launch ceremony took place likely in late June 2025, without media coverage or official publicity, which has contributed to continued speculation about the vessel’s intended mission profile.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

The addition of the Project 22011 vessel Vice-Admiral Burilichev reinforces Russia’s strategy of maintaining a fleet capable of operating in deep-sea environments for both declared scientific purposes and suspected intelligence missions. (Picture source: Telegram/Korabel)

Carrying factory number 236 and laid down on 6 February 2021, Vice-Admiral Burilichev measures 108.1 meters in length and 17.2 meters in width, with a full displacement of 5,230 tonnes. It is equipped with azimuth and bow thrusters to ensure precise station-keeping during seabed operations. The propulsion system consists of diesel-electric powerplants designed for extended-range deployment. The vessel includes a helipad and support facilities for handling deep-sea submersibles. It is expected to host the crewed autonomous underwater vehicles Rus (Project 16810) and Consul (Project 16811), which are capable of diving to depths of 6,000 and 6,270 meters, respectively, and are equipped with video and manipulation systems. These vehicles are intended for seabed surveys, technical intervention, and retrieval of objects up to 200 kilograms. The ship is also anticipated to carry remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) and sonar systems for hydrographic and geological mapping. As a unit of Project 22011, the Vice-Admiral Burilichev is expected to enter service with the Baltic Fleet, placing it in direct proximity to multiple NATO critical undersea cable networks where its intelligence‐gathering capabilities, including deep‑sea sensors and submersibles, could be used to map, monitor, and potentially tamper with subsea communications infrastructure.

Project 22011 is a continuation of Project 22010, both developed by the Almaz Central Marine Design Bureau in Saint Petersburg for GUGI. The first vessel of Project 22010, Yantar, was laid down at the Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad in 2010, launched in December 2012, and delivered to the Russian Navy in May 2015. A second ship, Almaz, was laid down in 2016 and launched in 2019, but its construction was suspended in 2020. Project 22011 maintains the same operational concept as its predecessor, with incremental design changes whose specific technical differences remain undisclosed. Delays in the construction of Almaz and Vice-Admiral Burilichev are linked to a decrease in state prioritization of GUGI programs following the death of Vice-Admiral Burilichev in 2020 and the onset of the war in Ukraine. Another contributing factor has been Russia’s difficulty in replacing high-technology foreign components and systems, which has also hindered the integration of specialized submersible systems and deep-sea support modules.

According to official statements by the Russian Ministry of Defense, GUGI-operated oceanographic ships are intended to conduct research on the global ocean, including deep-sea geological exploration, seabed mapping, and the recovery of sunken objects. These vessels are also equipped for search and rescue operations. However, NATO and Western defense analysts generally assess these ships as part of a specialized fleet for undersea surveillance, cable mapping, and seabed warfare. Their design, featuring large side-mounted hangars, deep-diving submersibles, ROVs, and towed sonar arrays, suggests potential applications beyond scientific missions. These vessels have frequently been observed in the vicinity of NATO undersea infrastructure, where their presence has raised concerns about intelligence-gathering, potential cable interference, and the mapping of military communication networks, even though no verifiable incidents have been reported.

Yantar, the first Project 22010 vessel, has been the subject of sustained observation by foreign intelligence services due to its post-commissioning activity. It has participated in several high-profile operations, including the search for Argentina’s missing submarine ARA San Juan in 2017, the recovery of Russian military aircraft lost off the Syrian coast in 2016, and multiple missions near undersea fiber-optic cables linking Europe, the Middle East, and North America. The ship carries both the Rus and Consul submersibles, deployed from a starboard hangar, and multiple ROVs launched via A-frames at the stern. These systems enable it to conduct hydrographic surveying, object recovery, and underwater inspections at extreme depths. Operational tracking has revealed consistent patterns of parallel course lines at speeds below 1 knot, punctuated by long static periods, indicating the deployment of underwater vehicles. In several cases, the ship’s Automatic Identification System (AIS) was deactivated, complicating its tracking during sensitive missions.

In 2015, Yantar was observed near the Kings Bay naval base in Georgia, home to U.S. Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, and in 2016 off the Syrian coast near undersea cables. Analysts have concluded that the ship’s behavior indicates reconnaissance of undersea communication systems, supported by Russian media reports claiming that the vessel has the capacity to connect with secured cables for intelligence purposes. It has also been used to retrieve onboard components from crashed military aircraft, including radar systems and identification gear. Western sources have linked the ship to operations near the Turcyos-2 and UGARIT cables between Türkiye, Syria, and Cyprus, as well as undersea networks in the Caribbean, Persian Gulf, and the Norwegian Sea, including near the wreck of the K-278 Komsomolets nuclear submarine.

During the Cold War and beyond, the Soviet Union and later Russia maintained a practice of deploying ostensibly civilian or research vessels equipped with intelligence-gathering systems, a clear precedent to modern ships like the Yantar and the Vice-Admiral Burilichev. Starting in the late 1950s, the Soviet Navy converted dozens of fishing trawlers into AGI (Auxiliary, General Intelligence) vessels, deploying approximately 60 such ships to patrol Western naval bases and missile test zones. These AGIs operated off the U.S. East Coast, near submarine bases and test ranges, gathering sonar signatures, radar emissions, and other signals intelligence. Similarly, the Balzam-class (Project 1826) ships of the 1980s were purpose-built for SIGINT, carrying large arrays of sensors and dedicated ELINT radomes. The SS‑V‑33 atomic intelligence vessel "Ural" also entered service in the late Soviet period, executing oceanic reconnaissance with extensive electronic warfare capabilities. These initiatives continued into post‑Soviet Russia with the Vishnya-class (Project 864) ships, which carried out long-duration intelligence missions under the cover of oceanographic studies. This historical pattern indicates that vessels combining dual-use covers with specialized intelligence equipment have long been part of Soviet and Russian maritime strategy.

Officially, vessels such as Yantar and Vice-Admiral Burilichev contribute to Russia’s maritime domain awareness, oceanographic research, and undersea recovery capacity. Their stated roles support submarine rescue planning, geological surveys, and ocean mapping. However, based on equipment specifications, deployment history, and mission patterns, Western defense experts continue to classify them as multi-role platforms capable of supporting seabed warfare, intelligence collection, and surveillance of NATO infrastructure. These capabilities allow the Russian Navy to operate at strategic depth in undersea environments, not only for research or search and rescue, but also for observing, mapping, and potentially disrupting global undersea communication systems. The launch of Vice-Admiral Burilichev extends this operational architecture, even as delays and dependency on imported technology remain unresolved constraints.