Russian Ships Blocked from Entering Naval Base in Syria, Stranding Troops, Weapons

The Kremlin can’t evacuate troops and equipment from its only overseas base, Tartus, because Syria’s new rulers won’t let Russia’s five naval vessels enter the port, Tuesday news and shipping industry reports said.

Local information platforms identified the five ships currently sailing in a holding pattern in international waters to the east of Tartus, Syria as the military-use cargo ships Sparta I, Sparta II, and General Skobolev, and the amphibious assault ships Ivan Gren and Alexander Otrakovsky. 

Until the Assad regime’s fall from power in December 2024, Tartus had been Russia’s only overseas naval base and a critical hub for Kremlin military logistics in the Middle East and Africa.

Russian naval presence in Tartus dates back to the Soviet era. Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in 2017, signed an agreement with his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad giving the Kremlin rights to use wharfage at the base for 49 years free of charge.

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Following the collapse of the al-Assad regime, Syria’s new leadership, the group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS)  announced it would reboot the country’s coast guard and review its maritime security policies.

Since then Russian naval ships have departed Tartus but none have entered. Kremlin spokesman Dmitriy Peskov, in December, said talks between Damascus and Moscow about the port lease’s status were in progress.

A month later, based on ship activity data posted on marinetraffic.com, little progress in those talks seemed to have been made.

The General Skobolev reportedly was the latest Russian arrival to Levantine waters, joining the Sparta I (in some reports just called “Sparta”) and Sparta II off the coast of Tartus on Monday. Sparta I (IMO 9268710) was the first of the little flotilla to appear in those waters, on Jan. 8, open-source ship tracking information platforms said.

Two Russian naval assault ships, the Large Landing Ships Ivan Gren and Alexander Otrakovsky, are also in the area and waiting for clearance to enter Tartus, but their location transmitters are turned off, a Monday statement by Ukraine’s military intelligence agency HUR said.

The Ostrakovsky’s crew had reported problems with the ship’s freshwater supplies and leaks from two of the ship’s fuel reservoirs, Ukrainian milblogger Gerashchenko reported.

Russian troops ashore had started burning supplies and equipment that would not be evacuated, the HUR statement said.

The HUR statement said the local Russian naval senior officer and possible commander of the evacuation flotilla, Rear Admiral Valeriy Varfolomeyev, over the weekend, attempted to discuss with shore authorities the ships’ entrance to Tartus port, but without success. It was his second attempt to meet with HTS officials and they had refused to speak with him both times, the Ukrainian news platform RBD-Ukraine reported.

Both Ukrainian and Syrian news agencies have reported Russian ground forces have lined up hundreds of military trucks, dozens of armored vehicles, dismantled radar systems, and at least two top-of-the-line S-400 anti-aircraft systems inside the port perimeter.

Unlike troops, who might be evacuated by air from the nearby military airfield Khmeimim, that heavy equipment must be evacuated by sea or be lost, the reports said.

The major Ukrainian news weekly Zerkalo Tizhden, on Monday, reported that Russian personnel at Tartus had begun burning vehicles. Truck and APC queues on the Tartus wharf stretch over a kilometer, the Ukrainian military information group Krymsky Veter reported on Tuesday.

A Jan. 8 analysis by the maritime research group Maritime Executive said: “As HTS strengthens its control of the ports, the Russian Navy – which has had a base at Tartus since the Cold War – appears to be losing its foothold. Long lines of military equipment are stacked at the pier, the final outcome of troop withdrawals Russia ordered during HTS’ assault on the capital. The berths, however, are empty of cargo ships or warships.”

HTS officials have said they want Syria to have a moderate government and good relations with Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and an end to Syrian economic and political isolation engineered by the authoritarian al-Assad regime.

Ahmed al-Sharaa, head of HTS and Syria’s de facto leader, on Dec. 30, in comments to the Saudi state-owned broadcaster Al Arabiya, said that post-Assad Syria wanted continued good relations with Russia, but, that Russia’s military presence in Syria would be curtailed.

“We do not want Russia to depart in a manner unbefitting its longstanding relationship with our country,” he said, referring to the presence of Russian bases at Hmeimim and Tartus.

Images published on Monday by Al Jazeera Syria showed Tartus’ streets to be quiet and removal of Assad-era roadblocks in progress.

Other video showed workmen from the civilian activist group the White Helmets pruning trees, clearing debris from streets, and unfurling a free Syria flag above the city center.