Russia sending warships to its base in Syria

[pampango]

Source: Reuters

Russia is sending a flotilla of warships to its naval base in Syria in a show of force which suggests Moscow is willing to defend its interests in the strife-torn country as international pressure mounts on President Bashar al-Assad's government.

Russia, which has a naval maintenance base in Syria and whose weapons trade with Damascus is worth millions of dollars annually, joined China last month to veto a Western-backed U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Assad's government.

Yegor Engelhart, an analyst with Moscow-based defense think-tank CAST, said Moscow did not want its position to be ignored while the Assad government was under pressure. "At the very least Moscow wants to show that it is willing to defend its interests in Syria," he said

Russia said it lost of tens of billions of dollars in potential arms deals with Muammar Gaddafi's fall and is loathe to lose another customer in the region. Syria accounted for 7 percent of Russia's total of $10 billion in arms deliveries abroad in 2010, according to CAST.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/28/us-russia-syria-warships-idUSTRE7AR0S820111128

[CJvR]

1. They have...

...alreaddy lost one huge customer in Libya so the prospect of losing one more in Syria can't be pleasant. Besides no one really cares about dead arabs unless they were killed by the Israelis so it is a rather safe gambit for them to make. Also Syria is a much bigger customer than Libya was:

Syrian Army

MBT:
1400 T72 (Sov)
1000 T62 (Sov)
200 T55 MV (Sov)
2000 T54/55 - stored (Sov)

AFV:
2300 BMP1 (Sov)
1500 BTR50/60/152 & (Sov)
OT-62/64 (Cze/Pol)

Armored cars:
400 BRDM1 (Sov)
600 BRDM2 (Sov)

AA-guns:
300 ZSU234 (Sov)
10 ZSU572 (Sov)
SA6/7/8/9/11/13/18 (Sov)

Artillery:
400 2S1 122mm (Sov)
50 2S3 152mm (Sov)
2600 Towed guns mostly WP origin


Syrian Navy

Corvettes:
2 PETYA II (Sov)

Light Forces:
8 OSA II (Sov)
8 ZHUK (Sov)

Minewarfare:
1 NATYA (Sov)
3 SONYA, 2x VANYA (Sov)

Amphibious:
3 POLNOCNY -LCT (Sov)

Naval aviation:
12 Mi 4 (Sov)
4 Ka 25 (Sov)
20 Mil 4 (Sov)


Syrian Airforce

Combat:
20 SU 24 Fencer -Strike (Sov)
70 MIG 23 (Sov)
30 MIG 25 (Sov)
40 MIG 29 (Sov)
150 MIG 21F (Sov)
40 MIG 23 BN -Strike (Sov)
40 SU 20/22 -Strike (Sov)
6 MIG 25 R -Recon (Sov)

AF-Transport:
6 AN 12 (Sov)
6 AN 26 (Sov)
2 AN 24 (Sov)
8 IL 14 (Sov)
4 IL 76 (Sov)
4 IL 134 (Sov)

AF-Helicopters:
100 MI 8 (Sov)
100 Mil 7 (Sov)
10 Mi 2 (Sov)
50 Mi 25 (Sov)
16 Mi 14 (Sov)
5 Ka 25 -ASW (Sov)
36 Mi 24 (Sov)
55 Gazelle (Fra)

AF-Training:
20 MIG 21U (Sov)
30 MIG 17 (Sov)
83 L39 ALBATROS (Cze)
60 L29 DELFINE (Cze)
30 MBB223 FLAMINGO (BRD)

[Javaman]

3. and victor bout goes to prision.

funny world we live in.

[bloomington-lib]

2. All about the mighty buck

[krucial]

4. Russia

Well,who can blame the Russians? US has been doing the same thing whenever faced with the same situation,we prop up and defend our kind of Tyrants.
Nothing matters,life,freedom,liberty and morality takes a back seat when it comes to "DEFENDING Israel,and US "STRATEGIC INTEREST" and one can not expect that Russia or China should not have that same right.
Bottom line is,it is all about control of the Almighty buck $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ whether Capitalist,Communist,or any other entity.
All the talk about freedom spreading,defending this or that,is all about Power and Control,and the pursuit of the Big Almighty dollar.

[harmonicon]

7. No, communists don't care about "$$$$$$"

That's why we won the cold war - you can't compete with capitalism in such a direct way as the USSR tried to.

Still, this is just another cold war, and I don't think the Russians are to blame. We're the ones who went into Libya to overthrow a government for our interests, which just happened to include installing a government less sympathetic to Russia.... you know, just by coincidence... couldn't have been by design.

[Ikonoklast]

5. If I was a Russian arms dealer, I'd be busy finding the leaders of the opposition

to Assad and make nice.

After all, it's what we do.

[Muskypundit]

6. So they are sending their warships.... all three of them.

[BadtotheboneBob]

8. Waiting to give Assad a sea cruise into exile?

Not sure whether he'll like the Moscow winters, though.

[tabatha]

9. Lord, those poor people of Syria who want Assad gone.

They simply do not count (to Russia).

As for the military - there are defections every day.