RUSSIA has discreetly accumulated a fleet of rusty cargo ships in the last few months, purchased by offshore buyers then re-flagged Russia, and then made Russian auxiliary navy ships and manned with armed naval personnel, Reuters reports.
As many as a dozen refurbished general cargo rust-buckets, going for a low as $300,000 piece and in the 6,000 - 8,000 dwt range, now shuttle war materiel between the Russian Black Sea Port of Novorossiysk and Tartous, Moscow's Syrian Mediterranean naval base.
According to shipping industry sources, publicly available data and photos collected by bloggers, Moscow has acquired at least four nearly obsolete cargo vessels from Turkish firms since late September when it began air strikes in Syria.
It has become part of what is known as the Syria Express," one shipping source said. ¡§These types of vessels are supplying Russian troops with food, fuel, ammunition and small arms and other logistics."
A second shipping source, from Turkey, said: ¡§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 include at least three previously operated by Turkish companies, now sporting new Russian names painted onto their hulls: the Dvinitsa-50, the Kyzyl-60 and the Vologda-50.
Previous owners reached by Reuters said they had no idea the ships would end up as part of Russia's war effort. One of the vulnerabilities of Moscow buying Turkish ships is that Turkey strongly opposes Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
But Moscow acquired the Turkish ships before its relations with Ankara deteriorated in November when Turkey shot down a Russian jet.
The need for the extra cargo ships arose because Russia's warships did not have the cargo capacity to supply the mission, said Vasily Kashin, senior research fellow at the Moscow-based Centre for Analysis of Strategies and Technologies.
An icebreaker called the Yauza was also sent to the Mediterranean from the Arctic to beef up Moscow's logistics. According to publicly available shipping data, it made two trips to Syria in October and November.
Buying old cargo ships gives Moscow more control than contracting out its transport to commercial carriers, said Gerry Northwood, chief operations officer with British maritime security firm 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 said.
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," Mr Northwood said.