The Russian Navy’s ships in the Mediterranean may be involved in the strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria, a deputy chief of the Russian General Staff said on Friday in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper.

“Undoubtedly,” Colonel General Andrei Kartapolov said in reply to this question, TASS reports.

According to the military officer, Russia’s General Staff does not rule out creating a military base in Syria with the naval, air and ground components.

“I would rather talk about creating one Russian military base. This will be one base to comprise the naval, air and ground components,” he said in the interview.