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The Russian naval facility in Tartus is a leased military installation of the Russian Navy located in the port of the city of Tartus, Syria. Russian official usage classifies the installation as a Material-Technical Support Point ((ロシア語:Пункт материально-технического обеспечения, ПМТО)) and not a "base". Tartus is the Russian Navy's only Mediterranean repair and replenishment spot, sparing Russia’s warships the trip back to their Black Sea bases through the Turkish Straits. Tartus hosts a Soviet-era naval supply and maintenance facility, under a 1971 agreement with Ba'athist Syria, which was—until the second year of the Syrian Civil War—staffed by Russian naval personnel. Most recently, the facility hosts the Amur class floating workshop PM-138, capable of providing technical maintenance to Russian warships deployed in the Mediterranean.〔(Russian warships 'ready to sail for Syria' — RT )〕 The Tartus facility can accommodate four medium-sized vessels only if both of its 100 meter long floating piers located on the inside of the northern breakwater were operational. It is not capable of hosting any of the Russian Navy's current major warships which range in length from the 129 meter Neustrashimyy class frigate through the 163 meter Udaloy class destroyer, much less cruisers such as the 186.4 meter Slava class and the 252 meter Kirov class, or the 305 meter Kuznetsov class aircraft carrier. ==History== The facility was established during the Cold War to support the Soviet Navy fleet in the Mediterranean. During the 1970s, similar support points were located in Egypt, Ethiopia, Vietnam and elsewhere. In 1977, the Egyptian support bases at Alexandria and Mersa Matruh were evacuated and the ships and property were transferred to Tartus, where the naval support facility was transformed into the 229th Naval and Estuary Vessel Support Division. Seven years later, the Tartus support point was upgraded to the 720th Material-Technical Support Point. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed and its Mediterranean fleet, the 5th Operational Squadron composed of ships from the Northern Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet, ceased to exist. Since then, there have been occasional expeditions by Russian Navy vessels and submarines to the Mediterranean Sea. The naval logistics support facility in Syria is now part of the Black Sea Fleet. It consists of two floating piers, a floating workshop, storage facilities, barracks and other facilities.〔 Since Russia forgave Syria of three quarters, or $9.6 billion, of its $13.4 billion Soviet-era debt and became its main arms supplier in 2006, it has been reported that Russia and Syria have conducted talks about allowing Russia to develop and enlarge its naval facility, so that Russia can strengthen its naval presence in the Mediterranean. Amid Russia's deteriorating relations with the West, because of the 2008 South Ossetia War and plans to deploy a US missile defense shield in Poland, President Assad reportedly agreed to the port’s conversion into a permanent Middle East base for Russia’s nuclear-armed warships.〔 〕 Since 2009, Russia reportedly has been renovating the Tartus naval base and dredging the port to allow access for its larger naval vessels.〔(【引用サイトリンク】url=http://www.inss.org.il/upload/(FILE)1287493352.pdf )〕 On 8 September 2008, it was reported that ten Russian warships docked in Tartus. According to Lebanese-Syrian commentator Joseph Farah, the flotilla which moved to Tartus consisted of the ''Moskva'' cruiser and four nuclear missile submarines. This was an assertion unconfirmed by any other source and clearly beyond the capability of the facility in Tartus. Two weeks later, Russian Navy spokesman Igor Dygalo said the nuclear-powered battlecruiser ''Peter The Great'', accompanied by three other ships, sailed from the Northern Fleet's base of Severomorsk. The ships would cover about to conduct joint maneuvers with the Venezuelan Navy. Dygalo refused to comment on reports in the daily ''Izvestia ''claiming that the ships were to make a stopover in Tartus on their way to Venezuela. Russian officials said the Soviet-era base there was being renovated to serve as a foothold for a more constant Russian Navy presence in the Mediterranean.〔 〕 In 2009, RIA Novosti reported that the facility would be made fully operational to support anti-piracy operations. Another unsourced report stated that it would also support a Russian naval presence in the Mediterranean as a base for "guided-missile cruisers and even aircraft carriers".〔(Russian Navy to base warships at Syrian port after 2012 )〕 Video reporting by Russian TV in late June 2012 provided a tour of the Russian Navy's modest foothold in Tartus. The officer-in-charge conducting the tour said that only four personnel now man the facility and that one of its two floating piers was inoperative because a storm had severely damaged its moorings. The shore facilities comprise a barracks, office space, two medium-sized corrugated metal storage buildings and a covered parking shed for about 5-6 service vehicles. A brief tour of the naval repair vessel then in port and tied to the sole operational pier also showed that it was minimally manned — about 10-12 personnel, including the master and chief engineer. There was no mention of potential repairs or facility expansion.〔RTR Russian TV 4 July 2012; Komsomolskaya Pravda 26 June 2012〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Russian naval facility in Tartus」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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