Then, last year, around the time Russia announced it would deploy its air force to Syria for the first time, we predicted that sooner or later, the naval phase of the Syrian conflict would ratner and lead to a repeat of the events from the summer of 2013. So, one year later, precisely this sequence of events now appears to be in place: earlier today, Russia's defence minister said Wednesday that Moscow was dispatching its flagship aircraft carrier to bolster its forces in the eastern Mediterranean off Syria.

The Admiral Kuznetsov aircraft carrier would be sent to join Russia's current naval deployment there, minister Sergei Shoigu said during a televised meeting.

"At the moment the Russian task force in the Eastern Mediterranean consists of no fewer than six combat ships and three or four logistic ships from all fleets" the minister said adding that "to build up the group's combat capabilities we plan to reinforce it with an Admiral Kuznetsov-led group," Shoigu told a meeting of the Defense Ministry's board. He added that the Russian Navy has been permanently present in the Eastern Mediterranean since 2013.