By: Ariel Cohen – Middle East Times

Are happy days here again – for the Russian navy? The Russian Federation is redeploying a part of the Black Sea Fleet to its Cold War hunting grounds in the Mediterranean. Returning to bases and anchorages in Syria and Libya is a top priority for the Russian admirals.

During the Cold War era the Soviets emphasized interdicting Western aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines in the Mediterranean to prevent them from launching strikes against targets within the Soviet homeland. The Mediterranean remains a key area of interest for Russian nuclear deterrence strategy, while deterring a war against Syria by the presence of the Russian forces demonstrates Moscow’s clout to other countries.

The Mediterranean Fifth Flotilla of the Soviet navy left the Mediterranean in 1991. In 1999, a Russian military intelligence ship resupplied in the Syrian port of Tartus while spying on NATO operations in the former Yugoslavia.

Tartus is the only foreign naval base maintained by the Russians since they abandoned Cam Rahn Bay in Vietnam back in 2002. The base at Tarsus, the 720th Logistics Support Point, has been used for maintenance and refueling since the 1971 Syrian-Soviet Defense Treaty. The Cold War era facility is relatively small, boasting a floating dock and three floating PM-61 piers. But the Russian Federation has begun to expanding the facility and is preparing to defend it with S-300PMU-2 anti-air missile systems.

The other Syrian port, Latakia, is also being expanded and dredged in preparation to base Russian ships. In the context of Russian military and naval expansion, these steps signify intent to establish a permanent, sustainable naval presence in the Mediterranean. Such presence may provide some deterrent to the NATO forces and may eventually threaten the Suez Canal and Israel.

The primary motivation for the Mediterranean expansion is Russia’s desire to project power and influence throughout the region while reaching out to “old friends”, such as Syria. Russian vessels on their way to Venezuela took care to pay visits to another potential Russian regional ally – Moammar Gadhafi’s Libya.

According to Russian naval sources, ships which may be deployed to Tartus include Russia’s only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, the missile cruiser Moskva and several nuclear power attack submarines (SSNs) or nuclear guided missile submarines (SSGNs).

The Admiral Kuznetsov was designed to protect the Soviet submarine fleet, interdict Western submarine forces, and destroy Western carrier groups with its supersonic Granit SS-N-19 anti-ship cruise missiles. It carries 24 Sukhoi-33 fighters (Flanker-D) comparable with the U.S.’s F-14s. Admiral Kuznetsov is designed to conduct air superiority and air defense operations using its aircraft and its 3K95 Kinzhal missile defense system.

Experts believe that Russia has had significant difficulty keeping more than a small portion of its naval forces operational. Many of them were constructed in Mykolai’iv (Nikolayev), in today’s Ukraine. Yet, reports abound that Moscow launched a number of programs updating its Soviet-era naval assets, including cruisers, destroyers, and submarines.

Recent increases in Russian military spending and operational readiness, as well as the expansion of port facilities at Tartus, will improve the capacity of the Russian Black Sea fleet and its Mediterranean squadron, to act. Until Russia can revitalize its naval forces to a much larger degree, its deployments to the Mediterranean contribute more to symbolic and diplomatic activity than being a viable military counterweight to NATO in the region. Yet, the Black Sea Fleet in the Mediterranean is a significant show of force, a diplomatic irritant and a potential threat to the shipping in the Suez Canal and to America’s ally, Israel.

Western forces in the Mediterranean are massive. NATO naval forces include the U.S. Sixth Fleet as well as British, French, Italian and Spanish fleets. The U.S. navy contributes vessels to the Sixth Fleet, such as the Nimitz-class supercarrier, at least one of which is assigned to the Sixth Fleet’s operational area at any given time.

The Sixth Fleet alone outnumbers the Russian Black Sea fleet (of which only a portion has been sent to the Mediterranean) in aircraft, armaments, electronic warfare capabilities, computer power, and personnel. Yet, NATO naval planners need to watch Russian advances in Europe’s strategic underbelly.

The Kremlin seeks to cultivate Syria as a close regional ally, and is looking to secure additional bases for the Black Sea fleet, beyond its current base in Sevastopol. In addition, Russia would also be able to deploy electronic intelligence gathering ships that could then improve its monitoring capabilities against NATO forces and Syria’s ability to monitor NATO and Israeli transmissions, expanding the previous naval intelligence engagement during the Balkan wars. Finally, Russian naval forces could deter or disrupt Israeli naval or air assets deployed in wartime against Syria or Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Syria is pursuing new arms deals with Russia, including the purchase of the modern aircraft, anti-aircraft missiles, and tanks. Iran is also involved in supporting Damascus. In 2007 alone, Iran reportedly financed Syrian purchases of Russian arms to the tune of $1 billion.

Iran and Syria, which have had a mutual defense treaty since 2004, train and equip Hezbollah, the biggest terrorist organization in the Middle East. Russia is cultivating both states as allies and as customers for Russian arms.

The Russian layered air defenses, both short-range TOR and long-range S-300 anti-aircraft systems, are able to provide a defensive envelope over the mysterious Syrian nuclear research activities, as well as the significant chemical weapons arsenal deliverable by Damascus’s short-range ballistic missiles, such as Syrian-produced SCUD-C and SCUD-D and, potentially, Russian-made Iskander-E (SS-X-26).

During the Soviet era, the USSR was able to project its naval power globally, with yearly naval maneuvers in the Caribbean and the North Fleet naval brigade in Conacri, Guinea, and Luanda, Angola. The 8th Operational Squadron of the Pacific Fleet had supply bases in Aden and Socotra (Yemen) and Dahlak (Eritrea), and in Berbera, Somalia. After the war in Georgia, the Black Sea navy is planning to deploy in Abkhazia, at the ports of Ochamchiri and Sukhumi.

For Moscow today, Tartus is only the first step in the long road to a renewed global naval presence.