A cargo ship operated by the Russian Navy transited Turkey’s Bosphorus strait en route to Syria on Tuesday loaded with ambulances, a Reuters reporter saw.
Syria reported its first case of coronavirus on Sunday after weeks of rejecting opposition allegations that the disease had already reached a country with a wrecked health system and thousands of Iranian-backed militias and Shi’ite pilgrims.
The Russian Dvinitsa-50 ship, part of Moscow’s auxiliary fleet, was carrying at least three military ambulances along with a shipping container on its deck.
Russia, which has provided military support for President Bashar al-Assad since 2015, operates a naval facility at Tartus in Syria and an airbase in Latakia.
The Russian military said on Monday that none of its servicemen had contracted the coronavirus.
Source: National Post
