Russian troops are fighting alongside pro-Assad forces in Syria, state television in Damascus and several reports have claimed. The video footage claimed to show troops and a Russian armoured vehicle fighting Syrian rebels alongside President Bashar al-Assad's troops in Latakia.
It is reportedly possible to hear Russian being spoken by the troops in the footage.
In further indications of Russian "mission creep" in Syria, a Twitter account linked to Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, published images of what appeared to be Russian planes and drones flying over Idlib.
And a Russian naval vessel was photographed heading south through the Bosphorus strait carrying large amounts of military equipment, according to social media and a shipping blog.
While Russian military advisers are thought to have been in Syria for months, as the Kremlin tries to support its key Middle East ally, if confirmed, this would mark the first evidence of troops fighting on the front line.
It is possible the Russians in the state television clip could have been contractors, thereby putting some distance between themselves and the Kremlin.
An unnamed activist with the Syrian rebel group the Free Syrian Army told The Times: “The Russians have been there a long time.
"There are more Russian officials who came to Slunfeh in recent weeks. We don’t know how many but I can assure you there has been Russian reinforcement.”
Russia is also delaying the launch of an international investigation aimed at assigning blame for chemical weapon attacks in Syria, UN Security Council diplomats said on Wednesday, though Moscow's UN envoy said the holdup was for technical reasons.
In a letter to the 15-nation council last week, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon outlined his plans for an investigation into toxic gas attacks in Syria, to be conducted by the United Nations and the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
The council was supposed to respond to Ban's letter within five days. The deadline lapsed on Tuesday and no response has been sent.
Several council diplomats said Russia, which holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month, was hesitating. Asked about it at a news conference, Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin played down concerns about a delay.
"The most important thing is to make sure we know what is going to happen and the mechanism will work as effectively as it can," he said.
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