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Russian warships have right to call at Syrian port: defense ministry

03 August 2012 22:23 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Russian warships have no plan to call at the Syrian port of Tartus, but do not rule out such a possibility, the Russian Defense Ministry said Friday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"In case the time of the flotilla’s mission is expanded, the group’s command has a full right to top up the stocks by using the material-technical support base at Tartus, which is designed for that purpose," the ministry said in a statement.

"The command will plan re-supplying the ships’ stocks either via support vessels or via the support base in Tartus," the ministry said.

Earlier, Russia has denied plans to visit Tartus.

Currently, there are some 10 Russian warships, including large landing ships, and auxiliary vessels in the Mediterranean Sea to perform combat training missions.

According to the ministry, three more Russian warships are to joint the group in the next few days.

Last week, Russian Navy Commander Viktor Chirkov said Russia would retain its military support base at Tartus, but later he noted that Moscow would evacuate its staff from the port of Tartus "if needed."

Since last December, Russia has sent several warships to the waters off Syria, including its flagship aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, despite concerns of Western countries that the deployments were related to the Syrian situation.

In January, Russian destroyer Admiral Chabanenko and two escort ships visited Tartus. Moscow said the move was pre-scheduled and had no connection with the situation in Syria.