Russian warships (four large landing vessels) head to Syria in show of power
The Russian Defense Ministry told the RIA-Novosti news agency on Tuesday that four large landing vessels were on their way to the Mediterranean near Syria, three weeks after the Russian navy conducted its biggest maneuvers in the region since the breakup of the Soviet Union.
"Based on the results of the Navy exercises in the Black and Mediterranean seas from Jan. 19 through Jan. 29 ... the Ministry leadership has taken a decision to continue combat duty by Russian warships in the Mediterranean," the ministry said in its statement. “In the future the number of warships in the group and types of vessels acting in the said region will be defined in accordance with the given situation."
"The continued presence of Russian warships close to Syria demonstrates the Kremlin's desire to keep up the Russian navy colors in the area to indicate that Russia stands by its attitude that the Syrian crisis should be resolved within the country by the country's existing political forces," Igor Korotchenko, editor in chief of the National Defense monthly journal said in an interview.
He added that he did not foresee the vessels taking part in any evacuation of the many Russian citizens in Syria. The Russian Foreign Ministry has been talking about the possibility of such an evacuation.
http://www.latimes.com/news/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-syria-russia-warships-20130219,0,6058114.story
It will be interesting to see if these landing vessels are just in the area to conduct regular maneuvers and 'show the flag', get involved in the conflict directly or as part of a larger scale evacuation of Russian citizens from the area.