The large landing ship Novocherkassk of the Russian Black Sea Fleet left the Novorossiysk naval base and is heading for the Syrian port of Tartus, a source from the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces has told Tass.
The Novocherkassk is expected to sail through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles into the Aegean Sea on Monday, December 31. It carries marines and several units of military hardware.
The large landing ship, accompanied by a combat ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, is expected to arrive at the maintenance base of the Russian Navy in the Syrian port of Tartus in the first week of January, the source said.
He reminded the interlocutor that two more large landing ships, the Azov and the Nikolai Filchenkov, sailed through the straits and into the Aegean Sea on December 28 and joined a group of Black Sea Fleet ships.
From that area, the Russian landing ships with marines and military hardware on board headed for Tartus accompanied by the guided missile cruiser Moskva. They are expected to arrive in Tartus within the next few days.
“Thus, the large landing ship Novocherkassk has become a third landing ship of the Black Sea Fleet that will call at Syria’s Tartus in January,” the source summed up.
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The Kremlin is sending another warship to the Syrian port of Tartus, where Russia has a naval base, Russian news agencies reported.
The reports Sunday by the ITAR-Tass and Interfax news agency cited an unidentified official in the military general staff as saying the Novocherkassk, a large landing ship, has set sail from the Black Sea port of Novorossiisk. She was “accompanied by a combat ship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet,” according to a Russian news source.
The Novocherkassk was the third vessel of its kind dispatched since Friday from Russia to Tartus, AFP reported, and was expected to arrive in the area in early January.
The reports gave no information on the ship’s intent. But Russian diplomats have said that Moscow is preparing a plan to evacuate thousands of Russians from Syria if necessary. The Defense Ministry announced two weeks ago that several ships were being dispatched to the Mediterranean.
Syrian opposition leaders reported in September that Russia was completing the withdrawal of its citizens and military personnel from its naval base in Syria.
Moscow has operated the naval facility at Tartus since signing an agreement with Damascus in 1971. Although it is merely a ship repair and refueling station with a limited military presence, it is the sole remaining Russian military base outside of the former Soviet Union.
As published by The Times of Israel pm December 30, 2012. Read the original article here.