Three Russian submarines unable to carry out combat mission in Syria due to technical issues
Three submarines of the Russian Navy, which are currently in a Syrian port, cannot perform combat missions, reports Lenta.ru news outlet citing an informed source.
The reason for that was the failure of old Soviet batteries that are installed on the submarines, while new imported batteries are not available due to sanctions. According to the source, with new batteries manufactured oversees, submarines could be underwater for five days, and with the installed Soviet batteries they can be underwater only from 48 to 72 hours.
The problem was detected only in the Syrian port because the batteries were not used during the transition of the submarines from Russia.
The newest Novorossiysk, Rostov-on-Don, and Stary Oskol Russian Navy submarines are affected by the issue. The submarines were put into service in 2014-2015 and are equipped with Kalibr cruise missiles.
The Russian Defense Ministry refused to comment on this information.