Russian warships enter Syrian waters to prevent NATO attack: report

The Nation ^ | 11/19/2011 | The Nation

[paul51]

the enemy of your enemy is your friend

[Hoplite]

Are they going to haul the Russian ships up onto the border between Syria and Turkey a la Fitzcarraldo?

Of course, since NATO will be intervening in Syria about as much as it intervened in Egypt, this is about as important a news item as the Chinese announcing they're sending a fishing trawler to the Channel to stop the French from invading England.

[Tommyjo]

There is no evidence that the Russians have actually deployed vessels to Syrian waters. Of course there are navy personnel and tugs etc in Tartus, but where is the evidence of major vessels? The only two Russian Black Sea Fleet vessels recenlty in the Mediterranean appear to be the Frigate Smetlivy and the rescue ship Epron?

These were exercising with NATO assets over the past few weeks.

Russian exercise with NATO in Mediterranean

The reports of a deployment of Russian Navy warships to Syria/Syrian waters appears to be sensationalist. The Smetlivy doesn't appear to have been diverted after exercising with NATO assets. The Severomorsk docked in Syria back in September on its way back to the Northern Fleet and is now back home. The replacement for the Severomorsk for anti-piracy patrols came from the Pacific Fleet. Any large scale movements of Russian Black Sea Fleet into the Mediterranean would be reported by Turkey and would be instant news. Turkey still has full control of the straits with naval transits monitored under treaty.

The Russians announced back in September that the aircraft carrier Kuznetsov and escorts were going to deploy to the Mediterranean from November.

Aircraft Carrier to exercise from November

The visits to the Mediterranean and Syrian waters by the carrier have been a regular occurence over the past couple of years. So far there have been no further reports of this planned winter deployment.

There is absolutely no evidence of major Russian Naval assets in Syrian waters.