Russian Warship Heads for ‘Routine Test’

Russian military landing craft Ceasar Kunikov

MOSCOW, June 19 (RIA Novosti)

The Russian military landing craft Ceasar Kunikov left the Black Sea port of Sevastopol on Tuesday for a routine test at a training base, not for the Mediterranean, a Black Sea Fleet officer said.

The Fleet command earlier dismissed media reports that a large Russian amphibious ship carrying weapons and troops was en route to Syria.

Some Ukrainian media sources reported on Sunday, referring to CNN and other western media, that the Nikolai Filchenkov large amphibious ship from the Russian Black Sea Fleet was heading for the Syrian port of Tartus carrying weapons and marines to defend Russia’s naval facility.

Soon after the reports, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice lashed out at Russia over its alleged arms supplies to Syria. Moscow strongly rejected the claims, saying that Russia was not “delivering to Syria, or anywhere else, items that could be used against peaceful demonstrators.”

According to UN estimates, about 12,000 people have been killed in Syria since the beginning of a popular uprising against President Assad in March 2011, which started with peaceful protests but has since grown increasingly militarized.