BRUSSELS — Russia canceled a request to refuel a flotilla of its Syria-bound warships at a Spanish port Wednesday, according to Russian state-run media and other news reports. The move came among mounting criticism leveled at Madrid from NATO’s secretary general and Britain’s defense minister.

The Russian battle group, containing cruisers, submarine hunting warships and Russia’s lone aircraft carrier — the Admiral Kuznetsov — were set to refuel in Ceuta, a port situated in north Africa near the Strait of Gibraltar, before heading to the Mediterranean Sea. While Spain has allowed Russian ships to use its refueling facilities in the past, the small armada’s likely mission — bolstering Russia’s strikes in Syria — has drawn widespread condemnation, forcing Spain into an uncomfortable position with its allies.

“The Russian Embassy in Madrid has just informed us that it is withdrawing the request for permission for stopovers for these ships and these stopovers have therefore been canceled,” the Spanish Foreign Ministry said after saying earlier Wednesday that it was reviewing the Russian refueling request according to a report in Reuters.

A spokesman from the Russian Embassy in Madrid confirmed the cancellation to the Associated Press but gave no further details.
Before Russia rescinded its decision to refuel in Ceuta, British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon told reporters in Brussels that the Britain “would be extremely concerned if a NATO member should consider assisting a Russian carrier group that might end up bombing Syria.”
On the contrary, NATO should be standing together,” he added.

In recent weeks the Kuznetsov, along with its escort ships, steamed through the North Sea and into the English Channel, drawing a wary eye from European countries that increasingly see Russia as a threat to their security.

The eight-ship battle group, reported to be accompanied by submerged escort submarines, will probably be used to increase the Russian airstrikes in Syria, as Russian and Syrian government forces attempt to break the months-long siege of the city of Aleppo. The Kuznetsov, an aging Soviet-era aircraft-carrying missile cruiser, is set to provide a contingent of strike fighters that will join the already sizable Russian air force presence stationed in northeastern Syria.

“We are concerned about the possibility that the Kuznetsov carrier group can be used as a platform for more attacks against Aleppo and Syria, and thereby exacerbating the humanitarian catastrophe we already see in Aleppo and Syria,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday before a defense ministerial at NATO headquarters.

As Russia flexes its military capabilities both in Europe’s waterways and in the Middle East, NATO countries provided more details this week of their efforts to shore up a force designed to deter Russia. On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter outlined the type of units — including artillery and antitank weapons — that the United States is sending to reinforce NATO’s eastern flank. The move, announced in February under what the Pentagon calls the European Reassurance Initiative, includes sending a Stryker brigade into the Baltic states and Poland until they are replaced by four NATO battalions in April
http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/russian-warships-to-bypass-spanish-refueling-port-as-nato-pledges-to-bolster-its-defenses/ar-AAjrkqN?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=iehp

“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”-Einstein.