Bullcrap. Russian navy in no shape to take on NATO. They go everywhere with a tug for the inevitable failures.
That was when Yeltsin was president. Not the case today.
You forget that during the Obama years, the Soviets, oops, I mean the Russians have done nothing but beef up their offensive and defensive capabilities using Syria as a test bed for all their systems. They’ve improved, gotten battle experience while Obama denuded the US military. Who’s ready for an attack?
It was a total of 11 ships docked, maybe a couple more cruising the Med, but what types they are would be interesting. Are they the heavy cruisers or destroyers which have the supersonic antiship missiles? Do they have the naval version of the S-300? There are only a couple of those left of the former Soviet navy in the Russian navy, but they might be players...
All the Russians in the Med have to is locate, the Russian navy in the Caspian sea will do the shooting, while the Bears etc will launch stand off missiles from inside Syria.
Meanwhile, the US Navy is not fairing so well with all the collisions, failure to train and maintain, spare parts shortages, and sex change operations.
The ships in the Caspian are new.