The General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces has announced that it will send warships from its Black Sea Fleet to the Syrian port of Tartus to secure a military base it rents from Syria on the Mediterranean coast. The warships will sail to Syria from their port in Sevastopol. Some of the vessels, carry units of marine commandos. In January, the Russian Navy sent a battle group led by aircraft carrier the “Admiral Kuznetsov” to Tartus, where Russian warships have been present since 1971.