"Servicemen may be evacuated from the Russian naval base in Tartus, Syria, if it comes under attack, Navy chief Vice Adm. Viktor Chirkov said on Saturday.
“I am not the one to issue orders: We have the defense minister [for that],” he said in an interview with Ekho Moskvy Radio. “If we have to evacuate the personnel that is currently deployed there, we certainly will.”
He stressed that an order by the commander in chief of the Russian Armed Forces (the president) and Russia’s top political leadership was required for that.
Chirkov said on Monday Russia has no plans to abandon its naval base in Tartus."
