Special to WorldTribune.com

MOSCOW — Russia has decided to augment its naval presence in the
eastern Mediterranean.

The state-owned Russian media said the Russian Navy was sending a spy
ship to monitor NATO traffic near Syria.

The Interfax news agency said the Priazovye reconnaissance vessel left the Black Sea port of Sevastopol on late Sept. 1 to report on the Western buildup against the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

“It was assigned to gather current information in the area of the escalating conflict,” Interfax said.

The Moscow-based news agency, quoting an unidentified military source, said Priazovye would operate separately from the current Russian Navy task
force in the Mediterranean. The task force was said to consist of up to six ships.

Russia has been the largest military supplier to the Assad regime amid
the civil war in Syria. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the task force
was meant to secure Moscow’s interest in the eastern Mediterranean.

“Yes, we want to know what is happening in this key region in which
Russia has serious interests,” another Russian source told the state-owned
RIA-Novosti on Sept. 3. “We want to see and know what is happening there,
what to prepare for in this region.”

The United States has also built up its naval presence near Syria. The
U.S. European Command has directed the deployment of five naval destroyers
in the eastern Mediterranean as the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier was moving
toward the sea.

“By sending the Nimitz nuclear aircraft carrier to Syria’s shores,
[President Barack] Obama demonstrates that the military action has been
postponed, but not cancelled, and that he is determined to start a war,”
Alexei Pushkov, chairman of the International Affairs Committee in the
Russian parliament, said.

  Bashar Assad, Priazovye, Russia deploys spy ship to the Mediterranean, USS Nimitz, Vladimir Putin