Russian-Owned Freighter Unloads Munitions in Syria

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On Thursday, a Russian-owned ship reportedly carrying weapons to Syria docked in Tartus despite assurances it would change destination, the Turkish newspaper Hürriyet reported. The paper cited Turkish Foreign Ministry official Selçuk Ünal, who said, “The Turkish navy learned that the Russian ship MV Chariot docked at a Syrian port today”. Russia maintains a Soviet-era naval maintenance site near Tartus, which is its only military foothold in the Mediterranean. The cargo ship MV Chariot, flying the St Vincent and Grenadines flag, was en route from St Petersburg to the Syrian port of Latakia carrying from 35 to 60 tons of ammunition and explosives meant for the Syrian Defence Ministry. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the ship carried a “dangerous cargo”, but didn’t elaborate. According to documents, the cargo sender was the Russian state arms trader Rosoboronexport.

The ship’s initial route lay in Turkish territorial waters, which isn’t an EU member, so there wasn’t any violation of the relevant EU restrictions on Syria. On Tuesday, however, the ship, docked for refuelling at the Cypriot port of Limassol. Cypriot authorities boarded the ship for a document check. They also tried to examine the cargo, but couldn’t open four containers in the hold because of “confined space”, the Cypriot Foreign Ministry said in a statement. They, however, ruled that the ship carried “dangerous cargo”. In about an hour, they allowed it to leave “after the ship decided to change its destination and not go to Syria”, Cypriot government spokesman Stefanos Stefanou said.

12 January 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120112/170725460.html

Editor’s Note:

The Bear sez to Langley… “Hands off Syria!” The USA wants to bomb Syria, especially as it would make Obama look “good” in an election year. Yet, the USA can’t do it, the Russians and Chinese block all action at the UN. As for the ship and its cargo, I believe that an underpaid Cypriot customs official got an “envelope”… all mature adults “in the know” know what happened. It’s “how things are done in that part of the world”, y’know…

BMD

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Syria Hails Visit of Russian Warships to Tartus

Russian naval task force centred on the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov… the Bear’s back and he’s telling the American aggressors to back off on Syria

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Syrian authorities called the visit of a Russian naval task force to the port of Tartus a “show of solidarity with the Syrian people”, the official SANA news agency reported. On Sunday, a Russian task force, led by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, arrived in Tartus to replenish water and food supplies during a long-term training mission in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. SANA cited Governor Atef al-Naddaf of Tartus as saying, “We highly respect Russia’s honourable stance in support of the Syrian people”. Russia maintains a Soviet-era naval maintenance site near Tartus as its only military foothold in the Mediterranean. Moscow is planning to modernise the facility to accommodate large warships, including missile cruisers and even aircraft carriers after 2012. On Sunday, the Defence Ministry reiterated that the visit of Russian warships to Tartus wasn’t in connection with the current political crisis in Syria, and said that the task force would leave the port on 9 January to continue with its training mission.

9 January 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120109/170675862.html

Editor’s Note:

Despite the denials, we all know why the Russian task force is in Syria… it’s to deter the USA from launching aggression against Syria, full stop. Russia stopped American aggression in South Ossetia in ’08, and it looks like its ready to stand against American Hegemonism yet again. The bear’s back and that may mean that the violence and mayhem that America’s unleashed on the world over the last twenty years may cease… God willing, let it be so…

BMD