While the world warily eyed Donald Trump’s inauguration on Friday, Russia and Syria signed a long-term basing agreement giving Russian ships and planes access there for 50 years, a major commitment that underscores Russian President Vladimir Putin’s years-long effort to restore Russia’s once-powerful role in the Eastern Mediterranean.
The pact calls for expanding and making permanent Russia’s temporary air base in Latakia, and expanding the Russian naval facility in Tartus that would allow it to permanently harbor 11 ships. The expansion would enable Tartus to host larger ships than it currently can accommodate — for instance, the aircraft carrier Kuznetsov couldn’t dock there last fall — as well as nuclear submarines, according to Russian state-controlled press reports. Moscow will also send engineers and specialists to Damascus to help refurbish Syrian warships and defend the port area. [...]
The timing is also notable as Washington prepares for a possible transformation in its role in the Syrian civil war. In his inauguration speech on Friday, President Donald Trump returned to familiar themes of ending foreign wars and cutting spending on overseas military deployments. He said Washington has for too long “spent trillions of dollars overseas while America’s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay.”
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