MOSCOW. Jan 20 (Interfax) - The stationing of Russian military ships in Syria's port of Tartus is not directed against other countries, according to the Russian-Syrian agreement on the enlargement of the Russian naval logistics support facility at the Tartus port and on Russian military ships' entry into Syria's territorial sea and internal waters and calls at its ports.
Russia and Syria have reached the agreement "proceeding from a mutual desire to strengthen and develop military cooperation aimed at strengthening the Russian Federation's and the Syrian Arab Republic's defense capability," according to the document available on the Russian official web portal of legal information.
"The presence in the Syrian Arab Republic's territory of the Russian Navy's logistics support facility meets the goals of maintaining peace and stability in the region, is of defensive nature, and is not targeted against any states," the document says.