Russian warships heading for Syria

The Russian Navy's warships patrolling the eastern Mediterranean Sea were heading for a Syrian port, the state-owned Itar-Tass news agency reported on Friday. The warships were scheduled to arrive in Tartus, a point of logistics supplies of the Russian navy on Saturday, according to preliminary information. "It is planned that the port of Tartus will be visited by a big anti-submarine ship of the Northern Fleet 'Admiral Chabanenko' and an escort ship 'Yaroslav Mudry'," Itar-Tass quoted a source with the Russian Navy as saying. "Our ships are supposed to stay in Syria for several days," the source said, without giving more details about the warships' mission in the country. Russian Navy dispatched their warships to the Mediterranean sea in November, and claimed the move was part of scheduled exercises and had no connection with the situation in Syria. The warships, led by "Admiral Kuznetsov", the country's only aircraft carrier, have started their patrol missions in the Northeast Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea since Dec. 6 to "ensure the security of the sea navigation and other Russian maritime economic activities," according to Russian Navy.

Russian warships heading for Syria