Russia is planning the evacuation of Russians who are living in Syria. While the Western powers have prevented the confectionary redelivery of three (repaired) old Soviet helicopters to Syria, the country is now filled with modern NATO weapons.

After the grouchy joint press conference by Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama is the first serious information about the situation in Syria a message on vedomosti.ru.

This messages states that several Russian ministries – the Department of Defense, the Ministry of Disaster Management, as well as the Russian fleet – have confirmed to the newspaper now that there are actual commands available about the preparation of plans for an evacuation of Russian citizens from Syria.

The Russian armed forces, including the fleet, as well as other services, have begun to make a start on certain responsibilities regarding the situation in Syria; in the first place, this could be the evacuation of Russian citizens and military personnel from the country or from the Russian naval base in Tartus (Tartous).

There are approximately 80000-100000 Russian citizens – including family members – in Syria, the Russian naval base at the Syrian city of Tartus (Tartous) has a planned crew of about 100 men. It is truly interesting that neither this past winter nor about a month ago, someone has spoken about an evacuation, namely, at times, as the situation in the country was really threatening due to the increased activity of the armed terrorist gangs.

Currently, the military situation has rather stabilized in Syria, and after several successful operations of the Syrian army, the situation tends rather back in a situation in favor of the Syrian government forces. Consequently, the Russian leaders rated the likelihood of a direct attack on Syria as very likely as it seems.

Surely that does not mean that Russia “gives up” Syria and the preparation of an evacuation is in the general situation a perfectly reasonable measure. At the same time is an indication that the Russian leadership will most likely stay with diplomatic means to avert the aggression but still.