Russia Says Its Sending Warships To Med For Evacuations From Syria
Flagship of the Baltic Fleet on its way toward Syria
Steve Watson
Prisonplanet.com
Sept 5, 2013
Following several reports of Russia sending warships to the Mediterranean Sea over the past week, The Kremlin’s chief of staff has officially told reporters that the intention is to prepare to evacuate Russian citizens from Syria.
AP reports that Russian news agencies on Thursday quoted senior official Sergei Ivanov as saying that Russia is upping a naval presence in the region to “primarily” be prepared to rescue Russians should a US military bombardment take place.
Yesterday it was reported that Russia is sending three more ships to the eastern Mediterranean to bolster its fleet. The additional deployments include two destroyers, one of which is the flagship of the Baltic Fleet, as well as another missile cruiser.
The information came via a Interfax report that cited an unidentified Russian Navy official, who also admitted that the ships would improve Russian surveillance capability over U.S. ships and submarines deployed in the area.
Last week Russia, Syria’s staunch ally, was reported to have deployed an anti-submarine ship and a missile cruiser to the area, in order to back up the Russian military facility in Syria at the port of Tartus.
As we reported, the Russian Navy denied that the dispatch of the warships was linked to western military action against Syria, despite Interfax quoting a source in the armed forces’ general staff who said the deployment was in response to the “well-known situation”.
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