The expansion of Nato in the three years since Russia widened its war on Ukraine has turned the Baltic Sea – once contested between the transatlantic alliance and Russia – into a Nato lake. And now, Russia seems likely to lose its naval presence in the Mediterranean.

With the increasingly heavily-armed Baltic States on one side and new Nato members Sweden and Finland – each with their own powerful anti-ship capabilities – on the other, the Baltic is becoming extremely perilous for the Russian fleet if it had to operate there during a clash with Nato.

Meanwhile, the Russian navy is getting squeezed out of the Mediterranean, too. Nearly two months after the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime in Syria, Russian ships have begun arriving in the Syrian port of Tartus – the Russian navy’s main Mediterranean base – as part of an apparent evacuation.