Russia has reportedly sent a naval flotilla led by destroyer-class warship Smetlivy to Syrian Mediterranean port of Tartous on a training mission.
According to Russian military sources, the flotilla, including two destroyers and three amphibious landing vessels, started their mission from the Russia’s Arctic port of Severomorsk to Tartus.
Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted a military source as saying that the ships' mission had nothing to do with the ongoing unrest in the Middle Eastern country.
“The ships were carrying marines on a training mission as well as food, water and fuel for Russia's naval maintenance and repair base in Syria's Mediterranean port of Tartous,” the source said on condition of anonymity.
Tartous is Russia’s sole naval base outside the former Soviet Union and Moscow dispatches its warships there regularly.
The reports say the Russian vessels were scheduled to reach the Turkish straits on Wednesday morning to continue their mission to waters off Syria.
The destroyer Smetlivy patrolled the waters off the coast of Syria in April and May.
DB/MA
