- Source: Tartus naval base
The Russian naval facility in Tartus is a leased military installation of the Russian Navy located on the northern edge of the sea port of the Syrian city of Tartus. Up until 2017, Russian official usage classified the installation as a Material-Technical Support Point (Russian: Пункт Mатериально-Tехнического Oбеспечения, ПМТО) and not as a base. As of 2012, Tartus is the Russian Navy's only Mediterranean repair and replenishment point, sparing Russia’s warships the trip back to their Black Sea bases through the Turkish Straits.
As of 13 December 2024, following the fall of the Assad regime, Russia's continued military presence in the base remains uncertain. On 11 December, it was reported that many of the Russian vessels previously in the harbour at Tartus had left and were -at least temporarily- offshore, some nearby. But Russia has not withdrawn yet, also no fighting has taken place, and is open to negotiate with the rebels.
History
= 1971 to 2012
=The Soviet Union established a facility at Tartus during the Cold War in accordance with a Soviet–Syrian agreement concluded in 1971, with a view of supporting the Soviet Navy's 5th Operational Squadron in the Mediterranean, which the Soviets saw as a counterbalance to the U.S. Sixth Fleet headquartered in Italy (then in Gaeta).
In the early 1970s, the Soviet Navy had similar support points located in Egypt, Ethiopia (Eritrea), Vietnam and elsewhere. In 1977, the Soviet Navy evacuated its Egyptian support bases at Alexandria and Mersa Matruh and transferred the ships and property to Tartus, where it transformed the naval support facility into the 229th Naval and Estuary Vessel Support Division.
In 1984, Moscow upgraded the Tartus support point to the 720th Material-Technical Support Point.
In December 1991, the Soviet Union dissolved; the Soviet Mediterranean 5th Operational Squadron (composed of ships from the Northern Fleet, the Baltic Fleet, and the Black Sea Fleet) ceased to exist in December 1992. Since then, the Russian Navy has occasionally deployed ships and submarines to the Mediterranean Sea.
As Russia wrote off 73% of Syria's $13.4 billion Soviet-era debt in 2005 and became Syria's main arms supplier, Russia and Syria held talks about allowing Russia to develop and enlarge its naval facility, so that Russia could strengthen its naval presence in the Mediterranean. Amid Russia's deteriorating relations with the West, because of the Russo-Georgian War and of plans to deploy a U.S. missile defense shield in Poland, an unsourced article said that President Bashar al-Assad reportedly agreed to the port's conversion into a permanent Middle East base for Russia's nuclear-armed warships.
In September 2008, a second floating pier was built at the facility, following the discussion of the issue between the presidents of Russia and Syria in August. Meanwhile, mass media and officials of Russia, Israel, and Syria made contradictory statements about Russian warships planning to call at Tartus as well as about the prospects of upgrading the facility to a naval base.
In July 2009, the Russian military announced they would modernize the Tartus facility.
= During the Syrian Civil War prior to Russian intervention
=Media reports in March 2012 suggested that Russian special forces had arrived at the Tartus port. According to a TASS report published in December 2017, the Tartus facility has been used for supplies of Russian armaments and military cargo since June 2012. Back in June 2012, Russian officials denied reports that they were reinforcing the garrison at Tartus with marines. About 50 Russian sailors and specialist technicians were said to be stationed there then.
On 3 August 2012, international media reported that three large Russian amphibious assault ships, carrying hundreds of marines would soon visit Tartus. Earlier reports, quoting a source at the Russian General Staff, said the ships would spend a few days in Tartus and would take on fresh supplies of food and water. British media added that the ships each had up to 120 marines on board. The Russian Defence Ministry left open the possibility that the ships might dock there at some point for logistical reasons, saying they had every right to do so. The unnamed General Staff source had said that after calling in at Tartus, they would head for the Bosphorus and the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk. The ships, part of Russia's Northern Fleet, were Aleksandr Otrakovskiy, Georgiy Pobedonosets and Kondopoga, all Ropucha-class landing ships. The source, quoted by Interfax news agency, said one would anchor off Tartus and the other two would use a floating pier, because the port facilities were limited. There was speculation that Russia may begin evacuating its nationals from Syria and deploy Marines to protect personnel and equipment, as the violence intensifies (about 30,000 Russian citizens were said to be living in Syria).
In May 2013, a U.S. newspaper reported that Russia had sent a dozen or more warships to patrol waters near Tartus, a move that was seen as a warning to the U.S. and Israel not to intervene in the conflict in Syria.
At the end of June 2013, Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov said in an interview that the facility did not have any strategic or military importance and that Russia had evacuated all civilian and military personnel from Tartus and Syria ("Presently, the Russian Defense Ministry has not a single person stationed in Syria"). This information was then confirmed by the Russian Defense Ministry.
After the permanent task force of the Russian Navy in the Mediterranean Sea was formed in September 2013, the facility at Tartus was charged with servicing and repairs of the ships of that formation.
Potential withdrawal of Russian Navy
In November 2024, rebels including the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) group launched a major offensive against the Russia-backed Syrian Arab Army and seized the city of Aleppo.
On the morning of 3 December 2024, analysts such as Droxford Maritime saw that a tanker and some warships were leaving Tartus. By the evening, image analysts such as M T Anderson had confirmed the base was now empty. Two Admiral Gorshkov-class frigates, one Admiral Grigorovich-class frigate, one Improved Kilo-class submarine and two auxiliary ships, one of which being the tanker Yelna, had all departed and sailed into the Mediterranean.
On 8 December 2024, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Tartus naval base had been put on a state of high alert. Reuters reported that Russian war blogger "Rybar", who is close to Russia's Ministry of Defence, said "Russia's military presence in the Middle East region hangs by a thread, Russian warships had left Tartus and taken up position off the coast for security reasons, the Hmeimim airbase had effectively been cut off after rebels took control of a nearby town, Kurdish forces had started to block Russian facilities beyond the Euphrates, and Russian positions at an oil facility in Homs had been blocked."
On 9 December 2024, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said communication lines with Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) had been opened to talk about Russia retaining its naval and air bases in Syria.
The former Senior British Military Advisor to US Central Command, Maj. Gen. Chip Chapman, told Times Radio on 9 December 2024 that Russian evacuations from bases across Syria appear to be underway and that small groups of Russian troops are cut off from the main Tartus naval base and trapped.
Current legal status, use, and strength
On 18 January 2017, Russia and Syria signed an agreement, effective forthwith, wherein Russia would be allowed to expand and use the naval facility at Tartus for 49 years on a free-of-charge basis and enjoy sovereign jurisdiction over the base. The treaty allows Russia to keep up to 11 ships at Tartus, including nuclear vessels; it stipulates privileges and full immunity from Syria's jurisdiction for Russia's personnel and materiel at the facility. The treaty was ratified and approved by Russian parliament, and the relevant federal law was signed by president Vladimir Putin by the end of December 2017.
In late December 2017, Russia announced it had set about "forming a permanent grouping" at the Tartus naval facility as well as at the Khmeimim airbase, after president Putin approved the structure and the personnel strength of the Tartus and Khmeimim facilities.
The Russian facility at Tartus has been used for delivering armaments and supplies by Russian dock landing ships and cargo ships that pass the Straits from the Russian Black Sea port in Novorossiysk to Syria (the Syrian Express) — for the Russian intervention in the Syrian Civil War that began on 30 September 2015 as well as for the Syrian Arab Army. According to media reports in September 2015, a drastic intensification of traffic of the Syrian Express was noted since mid-August 2015.
In April 2019, senior Russian officials were reported to have had talks with the Syrian government; Russian deputy prime minister Yury Borisov was quoted as saying that a contract on renting the Tartus port by Russia for "use by Russian business" was expected to be signed shortly.
The Tartus facility currently can accommodate four medium-sized vessels but only if both of its 100 m (330 ft) floating piers, inside the northern breakwater, are operational. It is not (yet) capable of hosting any of the Russian Navy's current major warships which range in length from the 129 m (423 ft) Neustrashimy-class frigate through to the 163 m (535 ft) Udaloy-class destroyer, much less cruisers such as the 186.4 m (612 ft) Slava class and the 252 m (827 ft) Kirov class, or the 305 m (1,001 ft) Kuznetsov-class aircraft carrier and the 156 m (512 ft) Sovremennyy-class destroyer. It is however, in theory at least, presently able to support limited vertical replenishment operations for those larger warships.