U.S. Tells Russia, Cyprus of Syria-bound Ship Concerns

The United States said Friday it has raised concerns with Russia and Cyprus over a Russian ship suspected of carrying munitions to Syria.

State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said "we have raised our concerns about this, both with Russia and with Cyprus, which was the last port of call for the ship."

Nuland added: "We are continuing to seek clarification as to what went down here."

She recalled that U.S. government officials have long "called for all countries that continue to trade and supply weapons with Syria to stop."

For nearly a year Syria has been in the grips of an uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, with Western leaders calling for the embattled strongman to step down as the death toll has risen into the thousands. But Moscow has steadfastly stuck by its ally Damascus.

The Cypriot foreign ministry said Wednesday the Saint Vincent-flagged cargo ship was allowed to refuel and set sail from the port of Limassol after its Russian owners agreed to change the destination from Syria.

On Friday the vessel's Saint Petersburg-based operator Westberg Ltd said the Chariot decided to keep to its original schedule after leaving the Cyprus port.

"It was classified as a dangerous cargo, but that could really mean anything. We are not responsible for knowing what was inside the crates," a source at the shipping company told Agence France Presse.

An independent Russian military analyst has reported that the ship was likely to dock at the Syrian port of Tartus with what media said may be up to 60 tons of ammunition supplied by the state Russian arms exporter.

Nuland said she was not in a position to say "definitively what was aboard" the ship.

"We've obviously not seen the cargo of the ship. We have some information from the presses. We also have some information from our contacts with the government of Cyprus," she said.

Nuland acknowledged that Syria has the right to continue importing weapons from Russia as there is no U.N. Security Council order imposing such a ban.

But she said "many individual countries, the United States included, have taken unilateral steps to bar weaponry into Syria."

Summing up the U.S. position, Nuland said: "The concern is that the Syrian regime is getting weapons from wherever it can to use against its own people."