MOSCOW — Russia plans to expand its naval presence in Syria in
an arrangement that would grant superpower protection to the regime of
President
Bashar Assad.
"For the first time since the Soviet Union's collapse, Russia will
create its own military base outside former Soviet borders, which would
enable Moscow to conduct its own political game in the Middle East,"
the Moscow-based daily reported on June 2.
Russian sources said Moscow and Damascus have discussed the expansion of
the Russian naval presence in two major Syrian ports. They said Moscow was
prepared to pay Syria for the naval rights with both advanced weapons and a
strategic defense pact.
On June 2, Kommersant reported that Russia wants
to regain full access to the Syrian ports of Latakia and Tartous. Quoting a
Russian diplomat in Damascus, the newspaper, regarded as authoritative, said
Moscow has already launched a project to dredge the Latakia port to
accommodate large Russian warships.
"It's clear that Syria doesn't have the money to pay for major weapons
systems," a source said. "So, over the last year, we've been discussing
alternatives."
Kommersant said Russian contractors have launched a project to widen a
channel in Latakia for Russian warships. The newspaper said Syria would
become a major stopover for Russia's Black Sea fleet, now based in the
Ukrainian port of Sevastopol.
"As an official at Russian naval headquarters explained, the
construction of a fully-fledged naval base in Tartous should help Russia
redeploy the naval and supply ships leaving Sevastopol," Kommersant said.
Hours later, Russia denied reported plans to replace Sevastopol with a
permanent naval base in Syria. Since the 1970s, Moscow has used Tartous for
naval supply and maintenance support in the Mediterranean Sea.
"The Russian government hasn't had and doesn't have plans to move the
Black Sea fleet
from Ukraine," an unidentified Russian admiral told the Itar-Tass news
agency. "Our fleet is staying in Crimea at least until 2017."
Kommersant said Moscow's naval base in Syria would be protected by the
S-300PMU-2 Favorit, the most advanced operational Russian air defense
system. The newspaper said the naval base and air defenses would be manned
by Russian soldiers and the S-300 could defend large areas of Syria from
Israeli air strikes.
"It means that from now on Russia would care for and protect the Syrian
regime," Kommersant said. "Moscow's stake in Damascus would definitely
damage relations between Russia and Israel and could persuade the Iranian
regime to be even less compliant in talks on the Iranian nuclear program."
