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Russia Signs 49-Year Lease For Military Bases In Syria

FILE – In this Oct. 20, 2015 file photo, Russian President Vladimir Putin, center, shakes hand with Syrian President Bashar Assad as Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, right, looks on, at the Kremlin, in Moscow, Russia. For five years fighting has raged in Syria — a globally resonant nightmare kept going in part by the insistence of Bashar Assad’s opponents that he must go even though they were failing to dislodge him from power. Now an inflection point may finally be at hand, with increasingly important Turkey suggesting Assad could play a role in an unspecified transition period. (Photo: Kremlin Pool Photo via AP, File)

The Russian armed forces have signed a 49-year lease with Syria giving the navy use of the port of Tartus the air force use of the base at Hmeymim. The lease will have a 25 year automatic renewal feature if neither side objects. The agreements will ensure a permanent Russian presence in the Middle East for decades to come.

“The current agreement will stay effective for 49 years and be automatically prolonged for 25-year periods, if neither party makes a twelve months’ notice in writing through diplomatic channels of its intention to terminate the agreement’s operation,” read the documents on the Russian legal portal

“Russia will use the facilities subject to joint use on the disinterested basis,” the agreement says.

“The logistic facility shall enjoy full immunity from the civil and administrative jurisdiction of Syria. Its movable and immovable property enjoys immunity from search, requisition, arrest or executory measures,” the document states, reported Russian State News Agency TASS.

This article first appeared on Tsarizm.com — “News you need to know RIGHT NOW about Russia, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe”

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L. Todd Wood

L. Todd Wood is an author, journalist and Editor-in-Chief at Tsarizm.com. He's a former special operations helicopter pilot and Wall Street debt trader, who has contributed to Fox Business, The Washington Times, The Moscow Times, National Review, the New York Post and many other publications.