A Russian warship entered the East Mediterranean and is approaching the location of U.S. warships that launched Tomahawk missiles at Syria. The Admiral Grigorovich RFS-494, armed with advanced Kalibr cruise missiles, crossed through the Bosphorus Strait “a few hours ago” from the Black Sea and is now in the eastern Mediterranean Sea heading in the direction of the USS Porter and USS Ross.
President Donald J. Trump on Thursday ordered the U.S. military to strike airfields near the chemical weapons storage facility at Shayrat Airbase in response to one of the deadliest attacks in the country’s 6-year civil war. The chemical weapons attack claimed the lives of an estimated 72 people and wounding at least 400 others. U.S. Pentagon officials said one of the U.S. destroyers after the attack headed to an undisclosed location to rearm.
The Kremlin said in a statement Friday that the U.S. military strike carried out on Syria is “aggression against a sovereign state in violation of international law.” The statement added that Vladimir Putin believes the U.S. authorized the strikes under “far-fetched pretext.”
Russia state-run news agency TASS, citing a military-diplomatic source, said the frigate was headed for the Syrian port of Tartus on what is supposedly a routine visit. Tartus is the location of a logistics base.
