'I know it is dangerous there, but nothing depends on me and nobody is asking if I want him to go there,' she said.

Her words appear to let the cat out of the bag over Putin's military deployment to support struggling Damascus dictator Bashar Assad.

Yulia pictured with her husband Yury Artamonov, who she says is being sent to Syria for up to eight months.
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Yury Artamonov, a marine in Vladimir Putin's armed forces, has been sent on a posting to Syria, according to his wife.
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Yulia, 31, she said her husband Yury Artamonov served in the Black Sea naval fleet and that his mission to Syria could be from three to eight months.

'The only thing left for me is pray,' she wrote in a social media account that she has now deleted.

'To pray that nothing happens to him, to see him back home safe and sound and healthy and better earlier than in three months - but there are rumours that they are going there for eight months.

'And it means it will be right at the time I will give birth, and maybe even after.'

Answering a question on whether she was sure he was on such a mission, she replied on September 3: 'Actually they are not allowed to disclose it.

'But it appears that they are going to guard either an airport or an aerodrome or to guard somebody. But he said it was a combat mission.

'That's what to think about.'

Yulia said of her husband Yury: 'There are rumours that they are going there for eight months. And it means it will be right at the time I will give birth, and maybe even after.'
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In a posting on another social media account, she wrote alongside a picture of her with her husband: 'Tomorrow you will go away for three months, minimum.

'The Russian army has no mercy for anyone! God, how long and hard it is, but it is needed for something and we'll survive it. As always, by the way.'

Russian commentators have concluded that her husband - whose military base is Sevastopol in Crimea - is being sent to secure an air base at Latakia.
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While Russia has long supplied weaponry to Damascus, a Cold War ally, the naval resupply facility of Tartus is not designated a military base and Moscow has not previously had a significant military presence in Syria.

Despite this, there are claims of a rising number of visits to Tartus from the Nikolai Filchenkov - a large assault landing ship - and other Russian naval vessels.

The vessel was pictured on September 2 and is believed to be carrying equipment from the 810th non-divisional marine brigade, based in Sevastopol in Crimea. One marine from the 810th posted his social media status as: 'Gone to Syria'.

The collection of images have been seized on by critics to claim that Putin has taken a major decision to boost his military presence in Syria in support of the country's autocratic president Assad.

The photographs suggest serving Russian forces have been in Syria since April at least.

Blogger Nikolay Makhno gathered together a collection of pictures from the social media accounts of alleged serving Russian soldiers.

Troops pictured at Tartus naval facility (left), posted online by Iliya Kozlov on September 2, and another in Tartus uploaded by Dmitry Nesterenko (right) on June 25.
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Evgeny Fedotov posted this picture on May 24, taken in the central park in Tartus Syria, where the Russians have naval facilities.
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'The Russian president's press-secretary Dmitry Peskov has denied the reports of Western media about the participation of Russian army in fighting in Syria,' he said.

'At the same time, photographs of Russian soldiers prove that they keep arriving to fight for Assad.

'Not just 'instructors' are going there - but entire groups of special forces and marines.

'The majority of them are coming via Tartus, but they can also be seen in Homs, Latakia, Damask, Ail As-Soda, Salamia, Ham.

'Some army units are serving in Syria for four-to-six months, and sometimes they mask themselves like Arabs.'

The blogger from Kiev likened the build-up to the deployment of Russian forces in eastern Ukraine, which was resolutely denied by Moscow.

This video from Syria supposedly filmed on August 23 during the battle of the port of Latakia shows an ultramodern Russian-made infantry combat vehicle.
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A soldier stands on a ship holding the Syrian flag in this photograph posed online by Dmitry Glezdnev on July 8.
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Troops are photographed on a ship in Gamal Abdel Nasser, Latakia, posted online by Nikolai Kazako on April 1.

COULD THE WEST ACCIDENTALLY START A WAR WITH RUSSIA?

The European Leadership Network, a group made up of members from both Russia and Europe, has warned that relations are heading towards Cold War levels of hostility following events in Ukraine

Diplomatic and military leaders are calling on Russia and the West to 'urgently' begin talks to prevent conflicts being accidentally triggered by an increasing number of military exercises and encounters.

The images do not prove Russians are directly involved in fighting but suggest Putin's troops are on the ground in a number of locations in Syria.

Separately, a video from Syria supposedly filmed on August 23 during the battle of the port of Latakia shows an ultramodern Russian-made infantry combat vehicle 82A with an 2A72 30mm cannon.

There are claims Russian speech is heard in the video. The vehicle is painted in colours and there is an identification number in Russian style.

Claims today made by independent radio station Echo Moscow say the following shouts were heard in Russian: 'Let's do! Throw it! Do it again! Let's do it again!'

A soldier poses with women by a plain in Damascus, Syria, in a picture posted by Alexei Karpovich on April 9.
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Alexei Khabarov posted this picture taken in Hama Governorate on April 21 (left) and two soldiers pose for a picture uploaded by Alexei Arabov on July 17.
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Nikolai Filchenkov assault landing ship pictured in the Syrian port of Tartu on 2 Sept. It is believed to be carrying equipment from the 810th non-divisional marine brigade, based in Sevastopol in Crimea. One marine from the 810th posted his social media status as 'Gone to Syria'.
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The report concluded that the 'Russian speaking crew' deployed in a new and 'rare' combat vehicle was seeking to prevent Latakia falling to Assad's foes.

'In March, Assad has lost Idlib, in April - Jisr Shughur, and Latakia is a strategic fort, the biggest port in Syria,' stated the report.

'The international airport is there which is also a military base. If Assad loses Latakia, he will soon lose the control of this aviation base, and Tartus is not far from there.'

Recently there were reports citing anonymous U.S. intelligence officials stating Russia has set up an air traffic control tower and transported prefabricated housing units for as many as 1,000 personnel to an airfield serving Latakia.

In the pictures, one soldier called Fedor Shmatko was pictured in April serving in Syria. But later he changed his social media account name to Denis Smoldyrev, deleting pictures linked to Syria.

A soldier poses with his arms across his body in Tartus in this picture uploaded by Leonid Bratersky on June 2.
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A bearded fighter pictured in a military encampment in al-Soda - also known as al-Sawda - around ten miles northeast of Tartus. It was uploaded by Sergei Boroda on August 3.
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Two men wearing army fatigues pose for a photo with cigarettes in this picture posted by Leonid Bratersky.
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Another wielding a Kalashnikov, called Nikita Saveliev, has since deleted his account on Vkontakte, a Russian social media network.

If Putin is engaged in a covert build up, as happened in Ukraine, according to the West, it could backfire, say Moscow experts.

'After the Soviet operation in Afghanistan, our public opinion has certain prejudices against sending troops to fight for ideals that are foreign to us,' Nikolai Kozhanov, of the Moscow Carnegie Centre, told The Moscow Times today.

Kerry expressed fears about an 'enhanced Russian buildup' in Syria.

'The Russian side has never concealed the fact that it is sending military equipment to the Syrian authorities to help them fight terrorism,' retorted Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

This picture of four soldiers taken in Syria was posted on social media by Dmitry Glezdnev on July 8.
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There are claims of a rising number of visits to Tartus from the Nikolai Filchenkov - a large assault landing ship - and other Russian naval vessels.
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The large assault landing ship Nikolai Filchenkov in Tartus port is loaded with Russian military hardware.

Putin said recently it was premature to talk about Russia taking part in military operations against the Islamic State jihadist group.

And earlier this month, Putin claimed Assad is ready to hold snap parliamentary elections and could share power with a 'healthy' opposition.

'We really want to create some kind of an international coalition to fight terrorism and extremism,' Putin told journalists on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum last week, saying he had spoken to U.S. President Barack Obama on the matter.

'We are also working with our partners in Syria. In general, the understanding is that this uniting of efforts in fighting terrorism should go in parallel to some political process in Syria itself,' Putin said.

'And the Syrian president agrees with that, all the way down to holding early elections, let's say, parliamentary ones, establishing contacts with the so-called healthy opposition, bringing them into governing,' he said.

Original article here.