Russian naval ship en route to Syrian port - source
MOSCOW. Jan 17 (Interfax-AVN) - The large assault ship Azov, which belongs to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, is heading to Syria's Tartus Port, which houses a supply and maintenance base of the Russian Navy, a military diplomatic source told Interfax-AVN on Thursday.
"Several items of military hardware and special operations units boarded the Azov at Novorossiisk Port. The ship successfully passed through the Black Sea straits yesterday, and today it entered the Aegean Sea, where it will meet other Russian naval ships," the source said.
The Azov will meet escort ships on Friday and will enter Tartus Port next week, he said.
It will not be the Azov ship's first visit to Tartus, the source said.
Russia's large assault ship Saratov is also heading to Tartus Port, where it will undergo minor repairs.
The assault ships of the Baltic and Black Sea Fleets will finalize their mission off Syria's coast at the end of January, the source said.
Ships sent by different Russian fleets are present in the Mediterranean Sea today. They include the missile carrying cruiser Moskva, the large anti-submarine ship Severomorsk, the surveillance ships Smetlivy and Yaroslav the Wise, the sea-going tankers Ivan Bubnov, Dubna and Lena, as well as the towboat Altai.
These naval ships will conduct large-scale maneuvers in the Mediterranean Sea in late January, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said.