MOSCOW, June 2 (UPI) -- Russia is dredging the Syrian port of Tartus, where a Russian Navy maintenance station is located, according to Kommersant, a Russian business journal.
The paper says that "may be evidence that Russia is considering Syria as a base from which to expand its influence in the Middle East." In that case, the maintenance station at Tartus may be converted into a naval base in the future for Black Sea Fleet warships when they are withdrawn from Sevastopol.
The Russians have maintained a station in the Syrian port since the days of the Soviet Union.
Kommersant quotes Vladimir Zimin, a senior economic advisor at the Russian Embassy in Syria. Russia is also widening the port at Latakia, the home town of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Russia, and the Soviet Union before it, have long desired a warm-water port to remove some of the burden placed on the Baltic Fleet during harsh Russian winters.
The Russian Defense Ministry and Navy General Headquarters are not officially commenting on the developments in Syria, but a Defense Ministry source who wished to remain anonymous confirmed those plans to the Russian newspaper. The paper cites a Moscow source as saying that "Moscow wants to form a squadron of ships led by the missile cruiser Moskva that will be a permanent presence in the Mediterranean Sea and take part in naval antiterrorist exercises with NATO members."
The paper goes on to quote a source in the Defense Ministry as saying "that the facilities in Syria would allow Russia to expand its influence in the Middle East and to guarantee Syria's security."
Russia plans to install an air defense system with S-300PMU-2 Favorit ballistic missiles to be operated by Russians, not Syrians, for the defense of its base. Those missiles will also provide cover for a significant part of Syria.
