The withdrawal announcement of Russia created an expectation that a Russian naval icebreaker and one of the missions main supply vessels would return to home port in Arctic Ocean. But Yauza, part of the “Syrian Express”, the nickname given to the ships that have kept Russian forces supplied, left the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk for Tartous.
It is reported by Reuters that Russia despite the declaration of withdraw from March 14, it is shipping more military hardware to Syria than removing.
According to the report, the withdrawal announcement of Russia created an expectation that a Russian naval icebreaker and one of the missions main supply vessels would return to home port in Arctic Ocean. But Yauza, part of the “Syrian Express”, the nickname given to the ships that have kept Russian forces supplied, left the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk for Tartous. Whatever it was carrying was heavy; it sat so low in the water that its load line was barely visible. Five cargo ships, including an oil tanker, arrived in Syria in the two weeks following Putin’s announcement.
The report also said that the movements and those of other Russian ships in the two weeks since Putin’s announcement of withdrawal suggest Moscow has shipped more equipment and supplies to Syria than it has brought back in the same period.
Moscow has not revealed the size of its force in Syria, nor has it given details of its partial withdrawal.
According to the report, Russia is also likely to have reinforced its naval force in the Mediterranean and now appears to have more war ships near the Syrian coast than at the time of Putin’s declaration.
Russia has sent two landing ships since Moscow began to scale back in Syria, which are typically used to transport troops and armor – the Caesar Kunikov and the Saratov – to the Mediterranean along with the Yauza, an auxiliary cargo vessel.
Putin is clever. All chess players understand that.
Carrying armoured vehicles probably. It is known Russia supplies them. No big news.