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(The story was updated with Ministry of Defense comment.) MOSCOW, June 27 (RIA Novosti) – Russia currently has no military personnel at its resupply facility in the Syrian port of Tartus, a senior diplomat said, though an expert affiliated with the Ministry of Defense downplayed it as a possible temporary measure.
“Currently, there is no one in Syria from the Russian Defense Ministry,” Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the Al-Hayat international pan-Arabic newspaper.
“We never, at any time, had a real military base in Tartus… That center has no military or strategic significance. It never did and it doesn't now,” Bogdanov added, speaking in an interview that was first published last Friday in Arabic.
The naval maintenance center in Tartus, established in Soviet times, remains Russia’s last military foothold outside the former Soviet Union. The facility, used for the maintenance and resupply of Russian warships in the Mediterranean, had a staff of “several dozen,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in February.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Thursday that the center has been serviced exclusively by civilian staff “for a long time,” but stressed it had no plans to abandon the facility.
An unnamed military official was cited by Vedomosti business daily Wednesday as saying that the Russian leadership was worried about the safety of the facility’s personnel, given the ongoing civil war in Syria. More than 90,000 people have been killed in the country since fighting broke out between government forces and rebels in March 2011, according to the latest UN figures.
Any incident involving Russian servicemen in Syria could also have unwanted political repercussions, the source said. Moscow has been providing diplomatic backing to embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad against pressure from Western powers and Gulf kingdoms.
- The Russian Navy currently has a flotilla of 16 warships and auxiliary ships in the Mediterranean, but no Russian ships have called at Tartus in recent months, according to Russia’s General Staff.
“[The pullout of military personnel] probably means that there are simply no current plans to use the base in Tartus,” he told RIA Novosti on Thursday.
“They’ll likely redeploy when it’s needed. It’s just a technicality,” Korotchenko said.
http://en.rian.ru
27/6/13
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Να αποχωρήσει η Συρία και αντάρτες από τα κατεχόμενα από το Ισραήλ υψίπεδα του Γκολάν ζητεί το Συμβούλιο Ασφαλείας -The resolution “underscores” that there should be no military activity of any kind in the area of separation, including military operations by the Syrian armed forces.
U.S. starts sending arms for Syrian rebels: media...
Ευρωπαϊκό «ναι» για την άρση του εμπάργκο όπλων στους Σύρους αντάρτες ... Απόφαση των ΥΠΕΞ της Ευρώπης
Οι «Φίλοι της Συρίας» θα εξοπλίσουν τους αντάρτες .... Ελήφθησαν ειδικές αποφάσεις οι οποίες κρατούνται μυστικές όσον αφορά τον τρόπο δράσης προκειμένου να αλλάξει η κατάσταση επί τους εδάφους
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Russia withdraws military personnel from Syria, report says...
ReplyDeleteRussia currently has no Defence Ministry personnel in Syria, the Vedomosti newspaper reported on Wednesday, indicating Moscow has withdrawn staff from its naval facility in the Mediterranean port of Tartous and may have stopped using it.
If accurate, the report could indicate Russia was concerned about the danger to its workers posed by the rebellion against Moscow's ally Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, analysts said.
Vedomosti cited an unidentified Defence Ministry source as saying there were no servicemen or civilian personnel in Tartous, and no Russian military advisers with Syrian government units.
Russia's foreign and defence ministries declined to comment, but Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov, Russia's special Middle East envoy, was quoted as making similar statement to London-based Arabic language newspaper Al-Hayat on Friday.
"Currently, there is no one in Syria from the Russian Defence Ministry," Al-Hayat quoted Bogdanov as saying.
Russia's modest maintenance and supply facility at Tartous is its only naval base outside the former Soviet Union, and has given Russia a foothold in Syria during the conflict.
President Vladimir Putin has flexed Russia's muscle near Syria's shores, ordering a naval unit to be deployed in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time since the 1991 Soviet collapse.
But Alexander Golts, a Moscow-based military analyst, said withdrawing the personnel from Tartous would be a "very reasonable move" to protect staff.
If a Russian military technician was taken hostage, for instance, "Russia would have a big problem that it would be difficult to solve," he told Reuters
Golts said there had been about 100 military technicians at Tartous to serve ships that stopped there for supplies and minor maintenance, but that they could have been withdrawn earlier this year when naval exercises were conducted in the area.
There as been speculation Russia has used the facility as a transit point for shipments of weapons and ammunition to Assad's forces. Russia has said its weapons supplies to Assad's government are legal and mostly defensive.
Russia has shielded Assad during the conflict, blocking Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolutions meant to push him from power or pressure him to end the bloodshed.
http://www.todayszaman.com//news-319367-russia-withdraws-military-personnel-from-syria-report-says.html
27/6/13
Κίνδυνος επιθέσεων σε πετρελαιοφόρα από τη Ρωσία με προορισμό τη Συρία....
ReplyDeleteΟ Αναπληρωτής Πρωθυπουργός της Συρίας Κάντρι Τζαμίλ δεν απέκλεισε το ενδεχόμενο ότι πλοία που πλέουν με ρωσική σημαία, τα οποία μεταφέρουν στη Συρία πετρελαιοειδή, μπορεί να γίνουν στόχος επίθεσης.
Όμως ο Σύρος Αναπληρωτής Πρωθυπουργός δεν διευκρίνισε ποιος και με ποιο τρόπο μπορεί να πραγματοποιήσει την επίθεση.
http://greek.ruvr.ru/2013_06_28/116828057/
28/6/13
Russia Says Embassy, Naval Base in Syria Working as Normal....
ReplyDeleteMOSCOW, June 28 (RIA Novosti)
– Russia’s embassy in Damascus, as well as its naval base in the port of Tartus, are continuing to perform regular operations, though “in very stressful and unsafe conditions,” Russia’s foreign minister said Friday.
He dispelled rumors that that the facilities were to be shuttered due to the ongoing Syrian civil war, denouncing such reports as “speculation and provocation.”
Regarding the naval base, which is for Russia is a last-remaining military foothold beyond the former Soviet Union, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said “there are no plans to evacuate this facility, as well as its staff.”
In February, the minister said the base, used for the maintenance and resupplying of Russian warships in the Mediterranean, had a staff of “several dozen.” Only civilians currently work at the facility, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday.
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130628/181937484/Russia-Says-Embassy-Naval-Base-in-Syria-Working-as-Normal.html
28/6/13