In short:
A Russian cargo ship has sunk in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria, with 14 crew members rescued and two others still missing.
The Ursa Major vessel had been heading to the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok carrying two cranes, according to shipping and logistics company Oboronlogistika.
What's next?
A Russian warship has overseen rescue operations after the ship sank and the Russian embassy in Spain said it was investigating the accident.
A Russian cargo ship has sunk in the Mediterranean Sea between Spain and Algeria, leaving two crew members missing, according to Spain's maritime rescue agency and the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Spanish agency said on Tuesday local time that 14 crew members of the Ursa Major vessel had been rescued uninjured and transferred to the Spanish port of Cartagena. The remaining two crew members are still missing.
Russia's foreign ministry said the ship started sinking after an explosion in its engine room.
Unverified video footage of the ship heavily leaning towards its starboard side with its bow much lower in the water than usual was filmed on Monday by a passing ship and published on Russia's life.ru news outlet on Tuesday.
Unverified video footage published by life.ru shows the Ursa Major heavily leaning towards one side in the Mediterranean Sea. (Reuters: Social media)
The cargo vessel was built in 2009 and owned by SK-Yug, a subsidiary of the Russian shipping and logistics company Oboronlogistika, which was created under Russia's Ministry of Defence and placed under US and European Union sanctions for its ties to Russia's military.
Empty containers and two cranes were located onboard the ship, according to Spanish authorities.
Oboronlogistika said in a statement on December 20 that the ship had been heading to Russia's far eastern city of Vladivostok carrying two cranes for the port weighing 380 tonnes each.
The Ursa Major left St Petersburg 12 days ago, Russian state news agency Ria Novosti said.
On leaving St Petersburg, the vessel had indicated that its next port of call was the Russian port of Vladivostok, not the Syrian port of Tartous which it has called at in the past.
Fourteen of the Ursa Major's crew members were rescued after the vessel's sinking, but two are still missing. (Reuters: Jose Maria Rodriguez)
An alert was received by Spanish authorities around 1pm on Monday, when the vessel was roughly 57 nautical miles (106 kilometres) from AlmerÃa in south-eastern Spain.
Authorities then contacted a nearby ship that reported poor weather conditions, a lifeboat in the water and the Ursa Major leaning towards one side.
A Russian warship then arrived later on Monday to oversee rescue operations, and the 142-metre cargo ship then sank around midnight, local authorities said.
The Russian shipping and logistics company Oboronlogistika said the Ursa Major had been transporting two cranes to the eastern city of Vladivostok when it ran into trouble. (AFP: Portuguese Navy)
The Russian embassy in Spain told the Russian RIA Novosti state media service that it was investigating the accident and was in contact with local authorities.
Ursa Major was in the western Mediterranean at the same time as Sparta — another Russian cargo ship under US sanctions — whose destination was Port Said in Egypt, according to reports on Tuesday from the ship-spotting platform MarineTraffic.com.
It is not unusual for Russian ships going from St Petersburg to Vladivostok to transit through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal.
With global warming, the Northern Sea Route via Russia's Arctic is increasingly traversed year-round, but most ships still choose the southern route in winter.
Spanish maritime rescue units remained in the area on Tuesday to monitor for pollution and remove any floating objects that could be dangerous for navigation, authorities said.
Russia 'evacuating weapons from Syria'
The incident involving the Ursa Major came amid uncertainty over the future of Russia's bases in Syria — the naval base in Tartous and Hmeimim air base — after the removal of Moscow ally Bashar al-Assad.
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Photo shows President Bashar al-Assad and President Vladimir Putin shaking hands inside a Kremlin meeting room.
These are Russia's only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union and have been key to the Kremlin's activities in Africa and the Middle East.
Moscow has "contacts" with Syria's new authorities, "including on a military level" but "much is unclear so far", Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said on Monday.
"Russia has begun transporting some of its weapons and equipment from the port of Tartus to Libya by sea," Ukraine's GUR military intelligence service said.
Russian naval warships were seen docked at the Syrian Tartous port on December 5, days before the collapse of the Assad regime. (Reuters: Maxar Technologies/Handout)
The Ursa Major entered the Mediterranean along with four other Russian ships including three warships, Russian independent news website The Insider reported on Monday.
The accident also came after a Russian tanker transporting fuel oil partially sunk in a strait between Moscow-annexed Crimea and southern Russia on December 16, causing a major oil spill.
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