NATO pressures Spain not to let Russian ships refuel

The European Union has just criticized Spain for allowing a Russian aircraft carrier to dock at its port to refuel.

Spain plans to allow Russian fleet to enter port for refueling

The British newspaper The Daily Telegraph reported that Western politicians and military officials have strongly criticized Spain because it will allow a Russian warship squadron to refuel in Ceuta, a Spanish-controlled enclave located on the southern coast of the Mediterranean Sea, bordering Morocco, in North Africa.

This eight-ship squadron, including the aircraft carrier “Admiral Kuznetsov”, the cruiser “Peter the Great”, two anti-submarine destroyers Severomorsk and “Vice Admiral Kulakov” and several other ships, belonging to the Pacific Fleet, was deployed to the Syrian coast in the Mediterranean.

The Pacific Fleet's flotilla will join the Russian Black Sea Fleet's group of ships, led by the cruiser Moskva, which has been present there since last year, participating in the military campaign against the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria.

This force will first undertake anti-ship and anti-submarine missions, establishing an air defense umbrella over the entire eastern Mediterranean Sea to ensure absolute safety for the Russian air base in Hmeymim and the Tartous naval base in Syria's Latakia province.

By the morning of October 26, the Russian fleet had passed through the Strait of Gibraltar - the strait that separates the two continents of Europe and Africa, connecting the Mediterranean Sea with the Atlantic Ocean, preparing to enter the port of Cueta to refuel, and then continue their journey to the coast of Syria.

Previously, the Spanish Foreign Ministry announced that the country regularly receives requests from Moscow to allow Russian military ships to refuel at ports under Madrid's sovereignty in the Mediterranean, including the port of Cueta in North Africa.

Russian aircraft carrier squadron on its way to Syria encounters many difficulties

More than 50 Russian military ships have called at this Spanish port since April 2010 when the naval base opened to ships from other countries.

In August 2015, the Russian Varshavyanka (Kilo) class diesel-electric submarine B-261 "Novorossiysk" also refueled in the port of Ceuta, then continued into the Mediterranean and to the Black Sea to join the forces of this Fleet.

Spain's Foreign Ministry said it would receive the Russian ships at its ports as part of a "regular diversion" to refuel and rest the crew.

Madrid insists that allowing Russian warships to dock is not part of the EU-imposed sanctions and does not violate NATO agreements.

Experts estimate that each visit by a Russian flotilla similar to this one would bring the city of Cueta more than £270,000, or $330,237, in docking fees, refueling, supplies and crew expenses during their time on land.

According to Baodatviet