The Russian ship Sparta, which is used to transport military equipment, has been unable to enter the Syrian port of Tartus for more than five days.

This is according to the MarineTraffic website, which tracks the location of ships in real time, as well as reports from OSINT analysts.

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 ship Sparta (IMO: 9268710) left the Russian port of Baltiysk in the Kaliningrad region on December 11 and arrived at the Syrian coast on January 5.

However, since then, it has been drifting in the waters near Tartus for more than five days without entering the port, said OSINT analyst Oliver Alexander.

This 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The scale of the evacuation of the Russian contingent from the country may indicate that it will either be completely withdrawn from Syria or remain in very limited numbers.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

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.