Russia Found Supplying Syria Mission with Old Turkish ships
By Jonathan Saul and Maria Tsvetkova
LONDON/MOSCOW, Dec 15 (Reuters) – Earlier this 12 months, an previous fridge ship referred to as the Georgiy Agafonov, constructed to move fruit and greens for the Soviet Union, was quietly gathering rust within the Ukrainian port of Izmail the place the Danube flows into the Black Sea.
Its house owners, a Ukrainian state firm, assumed it might by no means sail once more. When a Turkish firm provided to purchase it for $300,000, they watched because the hulk was towed away, presumably for scrap.
Nine months later the ship is again at sea, renamed Kazan-60, reflagged as a part of Russia’s naval auxiliary fleet, and repurposed as an unlikely a part of Moscow’s largest navy operation exterior the previous Soviet boundaries for the reason that Cold War.
“It had not been used as a vessel for many years,” mentioned Dmitri Barinov, board chairman of Ukraine’s Danube Shipping Company, shocked that the ship, which his firm offered to Turkish agency 2 E Denizcilik, was crusing once more.
Photos of the ship, now flying the Russian flag, have appeared on blogs of Russian navy fans. Barinov confirmed they appear like the ship his firm offered 9 months in the past.
According to transport trade sources, publicly obtainable information and photographs collected by bloggers, Moscow has acquired at the very least 4 almost out of date cargo vessels from Turkish companies since round late September when it started air strikes in Syria.
The ships have been given new Russian names and enlisted in Moscow’s naval auxiliary, a logistics fleet which Russia, like different maritime powers, maintains separate from its common navy.
“It has become part of what is known as the Syria Express,” one transport supply mentioned. “These types of vessels are supplying Russian troops with food, fuel, ammunition and small arms and other logistics.”
A second transport supply, from Turkey, mentioned: “Russian companies approached the market in September and bought six to seven ships in total.”
In addition to the Kazan-60, the newly acquired Russian ships embody at the very least three beforehand operated by Turkish firms, now sporting new Russian names painted onto their hulls: the Dvinitsa-50, the Kyzyl-60 and the Vologda-50.
VULNERABLE
Although earlier house owners reached by Reuters mentioned they’d no thought the ships would find yourself as a part of Russia’s warfare effort, Moscow’s want to purchase vessels from Turkey illustrates one of many vulnerabilities of its marketing campaign in an jap Mediterranean and Black Sea area through which it now has few mates.
Turkey strongly opposes Russia’s Syrian ally, President Bashar al-Assad. Moscow acquired the ships earlier than its relations with Ankara sharply deteriorated in November, when Turkey shot down a Russian jet.
An official at 2 E Denizcilik, the Turkish firm which purchased the Georgiy Agafonov from Ukraine in March, mentioned it offered the ship to a different firm and discovered solely from media inquiries that it was later used to move Russian navy provides.
“An offshore company bought the ship, which we understand was then sold to Russians. Later, we learned from the press that it was used by the military.”
An official at Troy Denizcilik, the Turkish agency which as soon as owned the ship Smyrna, now renamed Kyzyl-60, mentioned it had not been conscious the vessel can be subsequently operated by the Russian navy.
“This was a ship we owned and used but decided to sell. A buyer approached us. It was a normal transaction and we sold it in early October,” the official mentioned, declining additional remark.
According to the Equasis database utilized by the transport trade, the Dvinitsa-50 was beforehand named the Alican Deval and the Vologda-50 was referred to as the Dadali. Their final house owners had been listed as Istanbul-based companies Deval Deniz Tasimaciligi and Kuris Denizcilik. Reuters was not capable of attain both agency for remark.
Public ship monitoring transponder information, which is out there from Thomson Reuters, mum or dad firm of Reuters, reveals all 4 vessels visited Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk within the first three weeks of October, because the Russian air strikes on Syrian targets gathered pressure.
The first transport trade supply mentioned the vessels made deliveries from Novorossiysk to Syrian ports together with Tartous, the place Moscow leases its solely naval base within the Mediterranean.
An worker at Novorossiysk port confirmed the Kazan-60 had referred to as there.
“It was here once and since then that’s been it. It’s clear it is auxiliary fleet but I don’t know where it went,” he mentioned.
Russian protection ministry officers didn’t reply to requests for remark.
NEW CLASS
The want for the additional cargo ships arose as a result of Russia’s warships didn’t by themselves have sufficient capability to produce the mission, mentioned Vasily Kashin, senior analysis fellow on the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.
“Before we had to use amphibious landing ships to carry supplies to Syria. But now they are not sufficient and we are creating a new class of military transports which are part of the navy but in fact are pure cargo ships,” he mentioned.
An icebreaker referred to as the Yauza was additionally despatched to the Mediterranean from the Arctic to beef up Moscow’s logistics. According to publicly obtainable transport information, it made two journeys to Syria in October and November.
Buying previous cargo ships provides Moscow extra management than contracting out its transport to industrial carriers, mentioned Gerry Northwood, chief operations officer with British maritime safety agency MAST.
“By expanding their merchant fleet, the Russians are possibly seeking to bring the heavy lift of armaments and other equipment destined for Syria under direct government control,” he mentioned.
“It does afford a bit of protection – they are Russian flagged. It is likely they will put armed personnel on board and will be robust about their immediate security,” mentioned Northwood, a former Royal Navy captain with expertise commanding British warships.
At the identical time, the auxiliary ships can nonetheless be used for industrial enterprise, and shouldn’t have to function below the identical restrictions as fully-fledged warships in overseas ports.
“Not being military will allow the vessels greater freedom of movement. It will not always be necessary for them to seek diplomatic clearance for them to enter foreign ports,” Northwood mentioned. (Additional reporting by Jason Bush and Gleb Stolyarov in Moscow and Can Sezer in Istanbul; Editing by Christian Lowe and Peter Graff)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2015.
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