Their southbound passage through the Turkish Straits, a fortnight ago was with much fanfare and media attention. Their return to their home was as silent as a thief sneaking into a house. I must admit that the Russian have a very good understanding of how to play the PR game and they are good at it.
The four ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet that was in the Eastern Mediterranean in the last two weeks returned home yesterday and today. Yesterday the Ropucha class landing ship Tsezar Kunikov, the Alligator class landing ship Nikolay Filchenkov and the salvage tug Shakhter passed through the Bosphorus on their way back to Sevastopol. Today the tug SB-5 made the same voyage.
This is the list of the Russian ships currently deployed (or for the Black Sea units recently deployed) in the Eastern Mediterranean:
|
Name
|
Type
|
Fleet
|
Location
|
| Tsezar Kunikov | Large landing ship | Black Sea Fleet | @Black Sea |
| Nikolay Filchenkov | Large landing ship | Black Sea Fleet | @Black Sea |
| Shakhter | Tug | Black Sea Fleet | @Black Sea |
| SB-5 | Tug | Black Sea Fleet | @Black Sea |
| Smetlivy | Destroyer | Black Sea Fleet | @Mediterranean |
| Admiral Chabaenko | Destroyer | Northern Fleet | @Mediterranean |
| Yaroslav Mudry | Frigate | Baltic Fleet | @Mediterranean |
| Kondapoga | Large landing ship | Northern Fleet | @Mediterranean |
| Alexander Otrakovskıy | Large landing ship | Northern Fleet | @Mediterranean |
| Georgıy Podedonosets | Large landing ship | Northern Fleet | @Mediterranean |
| Segei Osipov | Replenishment tanker | Northern Fleet | @Mediterranean |
| Nikolay Chicker | Tug | Northern Fleet | @Mediterranean |
devrimyaylali.com 
According to Interfax-AVN (http://rbth.ru/articles/2012/07/28/russian_naval_unit_to_continue_mission_in_mediterranean_without_blac_16796.html), Smetlivy is now back in Sevastopol, along with Nikolay Filchenkov and Tsezar Kunikov.
Hi Jean-Marc, thank you very much for this information. There is absolutely nothing on Turkish media about the northbound passage of Smetlivy.