Posted on 06/30/2006 11:31:22 AM PDT by gandalftb
Russia is dredging the Syrian port of Tartus, where a maintenance station for the Russian Navy is located. Russia is also widening the port at Latakia.
That may be evidence that Russia is considering Syria as a base from which to expand its influence in the Middle East. In that case, the maintenance station at Tartus may be converted into a naval base in the future for Black Sea Fleet warships when they are withdrawn from Sevastopol. A Defense Ministry source confirmed those plans for Kommersant. The source said that Moscow wants to form a squadron of ships led by the missile cruiser Moskva that will be a permanent presence in the Mediterranean Sea.
The source in the Defense Ministry noted that the facilities in Syria would allow Russia to guarantee Syria's security. Russia plans to install an air defense system with S-300PMU-2 Favorit ballistic missiles to be operated by Russians, not Syrians, for the defense of its base. Those missiles will also provide cover for a significant part of Syria.
Kommersant has also obtained information that Russia has reached an agreement with the Syrian government on the modernization of that country's S-125 medium-range missile, which it bought from the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and the Syrian government has expressed interest in buying new Pantsir-S1 missiles, which Russia will make available to all comers after the missile has undergone testing and the first lot is delivered to the army of the United Arab Emirates. The only modern missiles in Syria's arsenal right now are short-range Strelets missiles that it obtained from Russia last year.
(Excerpt) Read more at kommersant.com ...
Russia sells a lot of arms for cash to Syria and it's construction firms are building pipelines and infrastructure there.
Clearly they want to be big players in the ME, witness the welcome Russia gave to Hamas leaders on their first foreign visit.
Russia...still on the wrong side of history.
Yup, still trying to be players.
They only have 25-35 more years. After that their population will have imploded to -75 Million levels.
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