SPARTA

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Russian military carrier unable to enter Tartus

While the Syrian authorities have allowed civilian ships to enter the military port of Tartus, the ban on Russian warships remains in place. The Egyptian cargo m/v 'Lotus' has entered the port of Tartus. The two Russian transport shoüs 'Sparta' and 'Sparta II' have been waiting in neutral waters for two weeks for permission to remove equipment. They are not allowed to enter the port of Tartus to export Russian military equipment. On Jan 9, the Russian Rear Admiral Valery Varfolomeyev had made another attempt to negotiate the removal of the equipment, but he was not allowed to participate in the negotiations. The evacuated Russian vehicles, weapons and equipment reportedly stretched for almost one kilometer in the port of Tartus. The Russian landing ship "Alexander Otrakovsky" on the outer roadstead of the Tartus port encountered serious technical problems. The second and third fuel tanks started leaking.

Russian military carrier unable to enter Tartus

The 'Sparta', which is used to transport military equipment, has been unable to enter the port of Tartus for more than five days. This puts the evacuation of Russian weapons and equipment from Syria in jeopardy. Russia’s only foreign naval base is located in Tartus. After the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the Russians brought a significant number of trucks with equipment here. The 'Sparta' had left the Russian port of Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region on Dec 11, 2024, and arrived at the Syrian coast on Jan 5, 2025. Since then, it has been drifting in the waters near Tartus without docking, which may indicate that the ship has not received permission to enter the port from the new Syrian authorities. Therefore, the only way to evacuate Russian military and equipment from Syria is through the Hmeymim airbase, where Russian Defense Ministry planes regularly arrive. Currently, the fate of Russian military bases in the Syrian Arab Republic remains unknown. Russia is negotiating with the new Syrian government on this issue. The scale of the evacuation of the Russian contingent from the country may indicate that it will either be completely withdrawn from Syria or remain in very limited numbers. The Tartus naval base on the Syrian coast of the Mediterranean Sea had been owned by the USSR since 1971. After the collapse of the USSR, it became Russian property and was used to a limited extent to replenish fuel and supplies for Russian Navy ships. With the outbreak of the civil war in Syria in 2012, the Russian Navy began active use of the base. It was modernized to accommodate large displacement ships. After the outbreak of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war, the base became an important hub for the Russian Navy’s military presence in the Mediterranean.

Russian ship suffered engine trouble

The 'Sparta' got into difficulty in Dec 17, 2024, in rough seas off Brittany in the north-west of France. The Russian ship initially did not respond to French communications until acknowledging it had a problem. "I'm in trouble. My engines are currently down, the tiller isn't responding. We're going to try to repair it in the coming minutes," the ship radioed. After drifting for 61 minutes, the 'Sparta' said it was back on course.