MOSCOW. Dec 23 (Interfax) - The Russian parliament will ratify the 49-year agreement with Syria on a Russian naval base in Tartus at one of the first plenary sessions in the new year, Franz Klintsevich, first deputy chairman of the Federation Council Defense and Security Committee, said.
"I think that the agreement on expanding Russia's naval base in Syria's Tartus will be submitted to the State Duma shortly and will be ratified by the chamber at one of the sessions of the spring session," Klintsevich told Interfax on Friday.
"Forty-nine years - a period of time during which it will be valid - is quite enough in order to comprehensively accomplish the tasks set in it," he said.
"Beyond any doubt, the implementation of the agreement will lead to the strengthening of Russia's military potential in the Middle East and the Mediterranean region, thus opening up new opportunities for settling the situation in Syria," the senator said.
The creation of a Russian naval base in Tartus "can be called a significant fact that indicates the growth of Russia's influence in the world," he said.