Moscow
is deploying warships at its base in the Syrian port of Tartus. The
long-planned mission comes, providentially, at the very moment when
it could help prevent a potential conflict in the strategically important
Middle Eastern country. The Russian battle group will consist of three
vessels led by the heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser, Admiral
Kuznetsov.
Russian military officials insist that the move has no connection with
the ongoing crisis in the region and was planned a year ago, the Izvestia
newspaper reports. Apart from Syria, the aircraft carrier and its escort
ships are set to visit the Lebanese capital, Beirut, Genoa in Italy
and Cyprus, says the former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Viktor Kravchenko.
Nevertheless, he added that the presence of a military force other than
NATO’s is very useful for this region, because “it will
prevent the outbreak of an armed conflict,” Izvestia quoted Kravchenko
as saying.
The Soviet Union, the Admiral recalled, created a special naval squadron
to deter Western military forces in the Mediterranean Sea. To repair
and supply its ships, Moscow needed its own maintenance base in the
region, and that was how the base in Tartus came into being.
At present, the base is mostly used to support vessels of Russia’s
Black Sea fleet. Some 600 military and civilian personnel of the Defense
Ministry serve there. |
News of Russia’s naval
deployment in Tartus came shortly after the US nuclear-powered aircraft
carrier USS George HW Bush anchored off Syria, along with additional naval
vessels. The US battle group is to remain in the Mediterranean, allegedly
to conduct maritime security operations and support missions as part of
Operations Enduring Freedom and New Dawn. The US 6th Fleet is also patrolling
the area, Interfax reports.
“Of course, the Russian naval forces in the Mediterranean will be
incommensurate with those of the US 6th Fleet, which includes one or two
aircraft carriers and several escort ships,” Admiral Kravchenko
explained. “But today, no one talks about possible military clashes,
since an attack on any Russian ship would be regarded as a declaration
of war with all the consequences.”
The mission is set to start in early December, when the Admiral Kuznetsov
begins its journey in the Barents Sea, accompanied by another vessel of
Russia’s Northern Fleet, the heavy ASW ship Admiral Chabanenko.
The group will then skirt the European continent from the west and enter
the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar.
Later, they will be joined by frigate Ladny of Russia’s Black Sea
Fleet. It will travel through the Bosphorus, with a stop-over in Malta’s
Valletta.
Admiral Kuznetsov will be carrying eight Sukhoi Su-33 all-weather fighters,
two Kamov Ka-27 anti-submarine helicopters and several brand new Mig-29K
fighters. The Mig fighters were built for India’s air force and
are supposed to be “tested” during their first assignment.
Military officials have stressed that all flights will be performed in
open waters, away from the Syrian coast.
Unlike American aircraft carriers, designed largely as floating runways,
Admiral Kuznetsov is a heavily-armed aircraft-carrying cruiser. Its primary
armaments, among others, are 12 long-range surface-to-surface anti-ship
Granit cruise missiles, a six-gun short-range surface-to-air missile system
Kinzhal, eight close-in air defense Kashtan gun-missile systems and two
UDAV-1 anti-submarine systems.
The Admiral Kuznetsov has already been twice to the port of Tartus during
its assignments in the Mediterranean and Atlantic Ocean in 1995 and 2007..
From: russia today |
