MOSCOW/DAMASCUS: Russia "over the next few
days" will be sending an anti-submarine ship and a missile cruiser to the
Mediterranean as the west prepares for possible strikes against Syria, the
Interfax news agency said on Thursday. "The well-known situation shaping up in the
eastern Mediterranean called for certain corrections to the make-up of the
naval forces," a source in the Russian general staff told Interfax. "A large anti-submarine ship of the
Northern Fleet will join them (the existing naval forces) over the next few
days. "Later it will be joined by the Moskva, a
rocket cruiser of the Black Sea Fleet which is now wrapping up its tasks in the
northern Atlantic and will soon begin a transatlantic voyage towards the Strait
of Gibraltar." In addition, a rocket cruiser of the Pacific
Fleet, the Varyag, will join the Russian naval forces in the Mediterranean this
autumn by replacing a large anti-submarine ship.
However, the state-run RIA Novosti news agency
cited a high-ranking representative of the naval command who said the changes
to the country's forces in the region were not linked to the current tensions
over Syria and called them "a planned rotation." UN chief awaits Syria report Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday
his investigating team would report back this week on the suspected use of
chemical weapons in Syria as embattled President Bashar al-Assad vowed to
resist any US strike. US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday he
has yet to make a decision on hitting Syria over horrific attacks last week
that activists say killed hundreds of people and threatened to draw the west
into the brutal 29-month conflict.
A western bombing blitz had appeared imminent
earlier this week, but US allies were increasingly reluctant to act before
hearing the results of a UN chemical weapons probe. Ban said the UN experts — on a third day of
inspections of alleged attack sites near Damascus — would leave Syria by
Saturday and report to him immediately. He appealed to divided
international powers to work together to head off military action against Syria,
where the UN says 100,000 people have been killed and several million made
homeless since the conflict erupted in March 2011
