عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Arab World

Russia’s Kremlin Speeds Up Tartus Base Expansion

The Tartus naval base on Syria's Mediterranean Sea coast has been used by the Russian navy since the early 1970s, but has recently taken on a new -- and unclear -- purpose. Above, the Russian amphibious landing vessel Caesar Kunikov (left) is shown leaving the bay of the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol June 19, 2012. Photo: Reuters/Stringer
The Tartus naval base on Syria's Mediterranean Sea coast has been used by the Russian navy since the early 1970s, but has recently taken on a new -- and unclear -- purpose. Above, the Russian amphibious landing vessel Caesar Kunikov (left) is shown leaving the bay of the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol June 19, 2012. Photo: Reuters/Stringer
TT
20
TT

Russia’s Kremlin Speeds Up Tartus Base Expansion

The Tartus naval base on Syria's Mediterranean Sea coast has been used by the Russian navy since the early 1970s, but has recently taken on a new -- and unclear -- purpose. Above, the Russian amphibious landing vessel Caesar Kunikov (left) is shown leaving the bay of the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol June 19, 2012. Photo: Reuters/Stringer
The Tartus naval base on Syria's Mediterranean Sea coast has been used by the Russian navy since the early 1970s, but has recently taken on a new -- and unclear -- purpose. Above, the Russian amphibious landing vessel Caesar Kunikov (left) is shown leaving the bay of the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Sevastopol June 19, 2012. Photo: Reuters/Stringer

Russian President Vladimir Putin has referred the expansion of the Russian naval facility in Tartus to the State Duma. The parliament, in turn, confirmed its readiness to ratify the agreement by the end of this year.

State Duma is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia, while the upper house being the Council of the Federation.

The agreement was signed by the Russian Defense Ministry and the Syrian regime’s Defense Ministry on January 18, 2017, in Damascus.

Under the terms of the agreement, Russia has the right to use the naval base for 49 years, a period which commences as of signing and can be automatically extended for an additional quarter a century, without a fee.

Eleven Russian naval vessels are allowed to coincidentally dock at the base. Russia had begun construction on the extension before the signing of the agreement.

Russian labor aims to transform the base into a major hub able to host Russian fleet vessels, including nuclear submarines. The agreement also grants Russian individuals and their families present at the base diplomatic immunity across Syrian territory.

The Russian government announced on December 5 that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed the Tartus agreement and referred it to the Russian presidency for approval, and later presented it to both Houses of the Russian Parliament for ratification.

Russian parliamentary speaker Vyacheslav Volodin said that the council plans to ratify the agreement by the end of this year.

"If the Duma sees to the agreement hastily, we are ready to ratify it by the end of the year," said Frants Klintsevich, First Deputy Head of the Federation Council (upper house) Committee on Defense and Security.

The move comes to litigate all arrangements to use Tartus base, while the withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria continues at an "active" pace for the second day in a row.

Meanwhile, Russia’s special operations medical team returned home from Syria. According to data from the Russian Defense Ministry, over 200 military medical personnel were deployed on Syrian territory.

Most Viewed

 
Arab World

French, Algerian Ties ‘Back to Normal’, France Says after Talks

This handout photograph released by French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) shows France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) being received by Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Algiers on April 6, 2025. (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs / AFP)
This handout photograph released by French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) shows France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) being received by Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Algiers on April 6, 2025. (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs / AFP)
TT
20
TT

French, Algerian Ties ‘Back to Normal’, France Says after Talks

This handout photograph released by French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) shows France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) being received by Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Algiers on April 6, 2025. (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs / AFP)
This handout photograph released by French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) shows France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot (L) being received by Algeria's President Abdelmajid Tebboune in Algiers on April 6, 2025. (French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs / AFP)

France's foreign minister said on Sunday that ties with Algeria were back to normal after he held 2 1/2 hours of talks with Algeria's president following months of bickering that have hurt Paris' economic and security interests in its former colony.

Ties between Paris and Algiers have been complicated for decades, but took a turn for the worse last July when Macron angered Algeria by recognizing a plan for autonomy for the Western Sahara region under Moroccan sovereignty.

A poor relationship has major security, economic and social repercussions: trade is extensive and some 10% of France's 68 million population has links to Algeria, according to French officials.

"We are reactivating as of today all the mechanisms of cooperation in all sectors. We are going back to normal and to repeat the words of President (Abdelmadjid) Tebboune: 'the curtain is lifted'," Jean-Noel Barrot said in a statement at the presidential palace in Algiers after 2 1/2 hours of talks.

His visit comes after a call between President Emmanuel Macron and his counterpart Tebboune on March 31, during which the two agreed to a broad roadmap to calm tensions.

French officials say Algiers had put obstacles to administrative authorizations and new financing for French firms operating in the country.

Nowhere was that felt more than in wheat imports. Traders say the diplomatic rift led Algerian grains agency OAIC to tacitly exclude French wheat and firms in its import tenders since October. OAIC has said it treats all suppliers fairly, applying technical requirements.

Barrot said he had specifically brought up the difficulties regarding economic exchanges, notably in the agrobusiness, automobile and maritime transport sectors.

"President Tebboune reassured me of his will to give them new impetus," Barrot said.

Beyond business, the relationship has also soured to the point where security cooperation stopped. The detention by Algiers in November of 80-year-old Franco-Algerian author Boualem Sansal also worsened the relationship.

He has since been sentenced to five years in prison. Barrot said he hoped a gesture of "humanity" could be made by Algiers given his age and health.

With Macron's government under pressure to toughen immigration policies, the spat has fed into domestic politics in both countries.

Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau has called for a 1968 pact between the two countries that makes it easier for Algerians to settle in France to be reviewed, after Algiers refused to take back some of its citizens who were ordered to leave France under the "OQTF" (obligation to leave French territory) deportation regime.

Barrot said Retailleau would soon go to Algiers and that the two sides would resume cooperation on judicial issues.

The relationship between the two countries is scarred by the trauma of the 1954-1962 war in which the North African country, which had a large settler population and was treated as an integral part of France under colonial rule, won independence.