Russia will evacuate its military staff from a naval base in the Syrian port of Tartus if needed, a high-ranking military official said Saturday.

"If any emergency situations occurred, we will evacuate the personnel from the logistics center. The center has its commander," Navy Commander Vice Adm. Viktor Chirkov told Echo Moskvy radio.

"I am not the one to issue orders: we have the defense minister (for that)," Chirkov added.

Chirkov said previously that Russia would retain its military support base in Tartus because the material-and-technical support facility is "designed to assist the Navy's operations in the Mediterranean Sea and the Gulf of Aden."

Also Saturday, a Navy spokesperson told reporters that the Russian Black Sea Fleet destroyer Smetlivy was returning from the Mediterranean after finishing its mission in the region.

Two support ships that accompanied the Smetlivy to the Mediterranean, returned home Saturday, the spokesman said. ' Since December, Russia has sent several warships to the waters off Syria, including its flagship aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, despite Western concerns that the deployments were related to the situation in the war-torn Mideastrn country.