Politics
22:34, 25-Dec-2017
Russia’s Duma ratifies deal to expand naval facility in Syria
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The Russian State Duma ratified the agreement on the expansion of the Russian naval facility in the Syrian port city of Tartus on December 21.
According to the agreement, Russia may simultaneously deploy up to 11 warships, including nuclear-powered combat vessels, at the Tartus naval facility. Russia will carry out the seaborne and airborne protection of the base, while Syria will be responsible for the land security. Russia will be able to deploy temporary mobile outposts beyond the base if coordinated with the Syrian side.
The agreement also stipulates that Russia will have the right to renovate, rebuild or demolish the facility.
The document also regulates different legal issues, such as the status of personnel, members of their families, issues related to the criminal and administrative prosecution of the personnel and family members, as well as crew members for the crimes and offenses committed in Syria and also issues related to the information protection.
Russia has had a base in the Syrian city of Tartus since 1971. /Reuters Photo
Russia has had a base in the Syrian city of Tartus since 1971. /Reuters Photo
Russian President Putin submitted to the lower house of parliament the agreement with Syria on December 13, under which Damascus will allow Moscow to keep its naval facility in the Syrian port of Tartus for at least 49 years.
“I hope that in the long run, Tartus will become a full-fledged military base,” the deputy chairman of the Federation Council's Committee for Defense and Security Franz Klintsevich told the RBC news channel.
"Vladimir Putin is determined to restore a greater role for Russia as a global power ... and the Middle East is really the main area where Russia has that potential, in part because the Soviet Union played that role in the Soviet period," William Courtney, an adjunct senior fellow at RAND Corporation told Voice of America.
After claiming a victory against the ISIL, Putin announced that Russia would pull most of its troops out of Syria, but would maintain the Tartus facility and the Hmeymim airbase in the war-torn country.
(Top image: Photo provided on Thursday, October 5, 2017, by Russian Defence Ministry press service, showing a long-range Kalibr cruise missile launched by a Russian submarine in the Mediterranean. /Xinhua Photo )