August 04, 2007	Saturday	Rajab 19, 1428

MOSCOW: Russia should have a permanent naval presence in the Mediterranean, the head of its navy said on Friday, mirroring the military ambitions of the Soviet Union.

“The Mediterranean Sea is very important strategically for the Black Sea fleet,” Admiral Vladimir Masorin said during a visit to the base of the fleet in the Ukrainian port of Sevastopol, RIA news agency reported.

“I propose that, with the involvement of the Northern and Baltic fleets, the Russian Navy should restore its permanent presence there.”

Buoyed by huge oil revenues and with President Vladimir Putin showing increasing assertiveness, Russia has been boosting military spending while at the same time using diplomacy to broaden Moscow's influence, especially in the Middle East.

A Russian force would further extend Moscow's influence in the Middle East and it would share Mediterranean waters with the US Sixth Fleet, whose home base is in Italy.

During the Cold War, the Soviet navy had a permanent presence on the Mediterranean, using the Syrian port of Tartus as a supply point, military analyst Pavel Felgenhauer told newsmen. He said that port could be revived as a base.

“It has been the dream of our admirals for a long time to restore our naval greatness and keep the task force we had under the Soviet Union,” he said.

COLD WAR: Russia's new assertiveness has created friction and prompted some Western policymakers to make comparisons with the Cold War.

Putin has said Russia would target its missiles at sites in Europe if Washington went ahead with a plan to build elements of a missile defence shield in eastern Europe. He has also suspended Russia's compliance with an arms control treaty.

Masorin did not say where the fleet would be based and a navy spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Analysts say the Russian navy is only just recovering from the under-funding of the 1990s when many sailors left the accident-prone fleet.

“We still maintain a naval station in Syria but that has been mostly standing empty because, after the break-up of the Soviet Union, the naval task force was withdrawn,” Felgenhauer said.

Felgenhauer said Russia had so few ships it would be unlikely to tip the strategic balance in the Mediterranean.

“The surface fleet right now is very small. There have been excursions (into the Mediterranean) several times in the 1990s but I do not think right now we have the naval capability to keep a sizeable force there all the time,” he said.

If Russia does build up a base in Syria, it could anger Israel, which has criticised Moscow for supplying weapons to Damascus.

Russia's Kommersant newspaper said in 2006 the Russian navy had dredged the port at Tartus as preparation for deploying a force there. But the newspaper said the navy was, in part, using the Syrian base as a bargaining chip in negotiations with Ukraine over its lease for Sevastopol.

Moscow rents the facilities for $93 million a year under a 1997 agreement that lasts until 2017. Ukraine has sought to increase the price.—Reuters