Moscow - Amid Syria Tensions, Russia Sends More Warships To Mediterranean

Moscow - Russia is sending two warships to the eastern Mediterranean, Interfax news agency said on Thursday, as Western powers prepare for military action over last week’s alleged chemical weapons attack in Syria.

Interfax news agency quoted a source in the armed forces’ general staff as saying a missile cruiser and an anti-submarine ship would arrive in the coming days because of the “well-known situation” - a clear reference to the conflict in Syria.

The navy later denied the deployment was linked to events in Syria and said it was part of a long-planned rotation of its ships in the Mediterranean. It did not say what kind of vessels, or how many, were on their way to the region.

The initial Interfax report had made clear that the aim was to beef up the navy’s presence and not to replace the ships in the Mediterranean. The reason for the discrepancy in the two reports was not immediately clear.

The United States accuses Syrian government forces of carrying out last week’s chemical weapons attack and has said it is repositioning its naval forces in the Mediterranean.

Russia, President Bashar al-Assad’s main international ally, says it opposes any military intervention in Syria and that it has no plans to be drawn into any conflict. It says there is no proof that Assad’s forces carried out the attack.