An intelligence update issued by the UK Ministry of Defence on the recent Russian naval exercise, OKEAN-24, suggests its scale has been “grossly exaggerated” by Russia.

Taking place between September 10 and 16, the exercise was the first of its kind in two years. Carried out by the Russian Federation Navy (RFN), the operation follows a break likely caused by Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine.

According to the latest Defence Intelligence update by the MoD, Russia would conduct annual exercises up until 2022 involving all of its armed forces – the Joint Strategic Exercise (JSE). However, the last two were cancelled “almost certainly as a consequence of the demands of the war in Ukraine“.

Described as a large-scale exercise, OKEAN-24 was likely to demonstrate reach and capability in spite of the growing pressures of the ongoing war.

Initial reports from Russian media outlets claimed the exercise would involve more than 400 vessels, 120 aircraft, 7,000 vehicles and 90,000 personnel.

The units were reported to be conducting operations in the Barents, Baltic, Mediterranean and Caspian Sea as well as the Pacific and Arctic Oceans.

Despite confirmation of exercises in those areas, the Ministry of Defence claims: “Russia has almost certainly grossly exaggerated these figures as there are currently only around 300 vessels available to take part.”

A highly notable absentee was the Black Sea, where no activity took place. This is a region that has seen significant conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Despite Ukraine having no real navy, over the past two years barrages of drone and missile attacks have disabled or destroyed a third of Russia’s Black Sea fleet.

The Intelligence Updates stated that “no OKEAN-2024 activity took place in the Black Sea, highly likely because of Ukrainian attacks in the first six months of 2024”.

The success of Ukrainian forces against areas of Vladimir Putin‘s military signals the continued impact the war is having on Russia’s military operations.