It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
Russia will send a flotilla of warships led by its only aircraft carrier to its naval base in Syria for a port call next year amid tensions with the West over the Syrian crisis, a report said Monday.
The ships, headed by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, will dock at the little-utilised Russian base in the Syrian port of Tartus in spring 2012, the Izvestia daily said, quoting the Russian navy.
The Tartus base, a strategic asset for Moscow dating back to Soviet times, is rarely used by Russian vessels and currently no Russian ship is based there although civilian and military personnel are present.
A naval spokesman confirmed the plan to send the ships but insisted it had nothing to do with the deadly violence in Syria between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition. "The call of the Russian ships in Tartus should not be seen as a gesture towards what is going on in Syria," the spokesman told the paper, adding the Admiral Kuznetsov would also visit Beirut, Genoa and Cyprus.
"This was planned already in 2010 when there were no such events there. There has been active preparation and there is no need to cancel this," added the spokesman.
It said the Admiral Kuznetsov would not be able to dock in Tartus itself due to the size of the vessel but anchor outside and be supplied by the smaller ships accompanying it. The ship has visited Tartus before in 1995 and 2007.
"This was planned already in 2010 when there were no such events there. There has been active preparation and there is no need to cancel this," added the spokesman.
Originally posted by jcord
Why do they think they can wait that long? More & more it looks like stagecraft between friends. Let's wait and see how the script goes once they are done setting the stage.
Izvestia said the Admiral Kuznetsov -- Russia's only operational aircraft carrier -- would head down from the Russian Far North in December, keeping west of Europe and heading into the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. It would also carry around a dozen aircraft.
Well,I would think being in the works since 2010 would make it preemptive,right?
Originally posted by jcord
reply to post by Vitchilo
That is Russia's only operational carrier. I wonder if they can afford to lose it.
Originally posted by bluemirage5
reply to post by Vitchilo
Russian propaganda at it's best. Of course anything can happen between now and end of 2012!
Russia is NOT going to send one single naval vessel into Syrian waters for any clash. They're not that stupid.
Originally posted by FidelityMusic
reply to post by bluemirage5
Of course, U.S. navy can't be touched. In all honesty, the only factor I believe Russia has on U.S. would be ground troops on ground troops, due to Russias intense physical Military training, those soldiers are hard as rock, but sad thing is they'd never touch land in the U.S., and I doubt we'd do ground combat in a World War, it'd be mechanical, nuclear, and biological warfare.
Originally posted by jcord
And by 2015 the majority of them will be Muslim. The Muslims in the Russian military are in better shape than the typical ethnic Russian due to alcoholism of the latter.
Originally posted by FidelityMusic
reply to post by bluemirage5
Of course, U.S. navy can't be touched. In all honesty, the only factor I believe Russia has on U.S. would be ground troops on ground troops, due to Russias intense physical Military training, those soldiers are hard as rock, but sad thing is they'd never touch land in the U.S., and I doubt we'd do ground combat in a World War, it'd be mechanical, nuclear, and biological warfare.
Moscow is deploying warships at its base in the Syrian port of Tartus. The long-planned mission comes, providentially, at the very moment when it could help prevent a potential conflict in the strategically important Middle Eastern country.
The Russian battle group will consist of three vessels led by the heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser, Admiral Kuznetsov.
Nevertheless, he added that the presence of a military force other than NATO’s is very useful for this region, because “it will prevent the outbreak of an armed conflict,” Izvestia quoted Kravchenko as saying.
At present, the base is mostly used to support vessels of Russia’s Black Sea fleet. Some 600 military and civilian personnel of the Defense Ministry serve there.
“Of course, the Russian naval forces in the Mediterranean will be incommensurate with those of the US 6th Fleet, which includes one or two aircraft carriers and several escort ships,” Admiral Kravchenko explained. “But today, no one talks about possible military clashes, since an attack on any Russian ship would be regarded as a declaration of war with all the consequences.”
The mission is set to start in early December, when the Admiral Kuznetsov begins its journey in the Barents Sea, accompanied by another vessel of Russia’s Northern Fleet, the heavy ASW ship Admiral Chabanenko. The group will then skirt the European continent from the west and enter the Mediterranean through the Straits of Gibraltar.
Originally posted by Vitchilo
Well it seems Russia is very serious about not letting NATO attack Syria OR ELSE.
Russia to send warships to Syria in 2012: report
Russia will send a flotilla of warships led by its only aircraft carrier to its naval base in Syria for a port call next year amid tensions with the West over the Syrian crisis, a report said Monday.
The ships, headed by the Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier, will dock at the little-utilised Russian base in the Syrian port of Tartus in spring 2012, the Izvestia daily said, quoting the Russian navy.
The Tartus base, a strategic asset for Moscow dating back to Soviet times, is rarely used by Russian vessels and currently no Russian ship is based there although civilian and military personnel are present.
NATO, are you understanding this? BACK OFF OR WORLD WAR 3. Or eh, maybe this will push NATO for an attack BEFORE Russia ever makes it to Tartus...edit on 28-11-2011 by Vitchilo because: (no reason given)
Originally posted by THE_PROFESSIONAL
it is laughable that people think that a US carrier is unsinkable by russian forces who have better missiles than the exocet.