Russia has sent a reconnaissance vessel from its Black Sea fleet to the coast off Syria, as Moscow anxiously watches Western plans for military action against the Damascus regime, a report said today.

The SSV-201 intelligence ship Priazovye started its voyage yesterday evening “to the appointed region of military service in the eastern Mediterranean,” a military source told the Interfax news agency.

“The crew have the mission... of collecting operative information in the region of an escalating conflict,” it added.