Russia may relocate Black Sea Fleet to Syrian port – paper
02/06/2006 12:31

MOSCOW, June 2 (RIA Novosti) – Russia has started dredging at a Syrian
port where it maintains a logistical supply point with a possible eye
to turning it into a full-fledged naval base, a respected Russian
business daily said Friday.

Tartus, the second most important Syrian port on the Mediterranean,
could be transformed into a base for Black Sea Fleet warships when
they are redeployed from the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, Kommersant
daily said, quoting sources in Russia’s diplomatic service and the
Defense Ministry.

Vladimir Zimin, a senior economic advisor at the Russian Embassy to
Syria, said Russia had simultaneously launched a modernization project
at the port of Latakia, 90 km to the north of Tartus.

The paper quoted an anonymous source at the Defense Ministry as saying
that Moscow was planning to form a squadron led by the Moskva missile
cruiser within the next three years to operate in the Mediterranean
Sea on a permanent basis, in particular for joint antiterrorist
exercises with NATO forces.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet currently uses a range of naval facilities in
the Crimea under a 1997 agreement that allowed Russia to continue its
presence in its neighboring former Soviet republic for rent of $93
million per year.

The fleet is scheduled to withdraw in 2017, but Ukraine has recently
voiced concerns that Russia is not paying enough for the facilities
and also demanded that a new agreement be signed on inventorizing the
bases. Russia has said it will make no concessions over rent or
withdrawing the fleet and talks have stalled.

The Defense Ministry source told Kommersant that a Russian naval base
in the Mediterranean would not only help Moscow strengthen its
position in the Middle East – where it is currently also involved in
negotiations on the Iranian nuclear crisis and the Israel/Palestinian
issue – but also ensure Syria’s security.

Moscow plans to deploy an S-300PMU-2 Favorit air-defense system to
protect the base, the paper said, adding that the system will be
operated by Russian servicemen and not be handed over to Syria.

At the same time, sources close to the matter said Moscow and Damascus
had reached an agreement to modernize Syria’s antiaircraft system
using medium-range S-125 missile complexes that were deployed in the
1980s.