Captain Alexander Shvarts watched on as the iron covers whirred open on the air defence system aboard the Russian navy's Moskva missile cruiser off the Syrian coast.

"This system can fire up to twelve missiles at any one time," Shvarts said Thursday during a highly choreographed press tour of the ship arranged by the Russian defence ministry. "The range is around 70 kilometres (43 miles)."

The Moskva -- flagship of Russia's Crimea-based Black Sea Fleet -- is the largest warship the Kremlin has sent to support its bombing campaign in the war-torn nation.

It is patrolling some 10 nautical miles (13 kilometres) offshore in the eastern Mediterranean.

Until about three weeks ago, the Soviet-era craft, built in 1983, was further out to sea providing protection for ships delivering supplies for the Russian base on land.

But after a Turkish F-16 fighter blasted a Russian jet out of the sky along the Syrian border it was ordered closer to shore to help ward off any future attacks on Russian planes bombing across Syria.

"Now our main task is to provide air cover for the Russian base at Hmeimim in Syria and for the Russian planes carrying our their tasks over the country," Shvarts said.

- Nuclear capable -

Russia has bolstered its bombing campaign in Syria from the water -- firing cruise missiles from a submarine in the Mediterranean earlier this month and from warships in the Caspian Sea far to the east.

The Moskva, however, is designed primarily to take out other vessels at sea and aircraft in the sky and has not used any of its fierce array of weaponry in the Syrian operation.

That includes Vulkan missiles, designed to sink other warships. They can be armed with nuclear warheads, although there are none currently on board.

"It would be like shooting sparrows with a cannon," military spokesman Igor Konashenkov told AFP during a tour of the ship.

"These are just not the right weapons to use to hit our targets in Syria."

After the downing of its jet by Turkey Moscow also rushed its latest S-400 air defence system to the Hmeimim base in Syria.

That system has a range and capacity that far outstrips the weaponry on board the Moskva, meaning the ship may not have much strategic necessity.

But by dispatching a key warship like the Moskva -- with its crew of some 500 -- the Kremlin seems to be making a clear statement of strength.

During the press tour for some few dozen journalists from Russia, Syria and international outlets -- the first of its kind to a ship involved in the Syria operation -- the military proudly showed off the bristling array of hardware on board.

The huge gun turrets swivelled back and forth and rocket systems were primed for the cameras.

"Overall, including the Moskva, we have 11 vessels in this area involved in the operation, including landing ships, smaller missile boats and supply craft," said Commander Oleg Krivorog.

Now the Moskva remains roving up and down the coast of Syria -- and it does not look like it will be returning to its home port of Sevastopol any time soon.

"We are waiting now for a rotation and to receive new crew," Captain Shvarts told AFP as he bid farewell to the journalists.

"As for any date on the end of our mission, that I am not going to talk about."

Russia opens black box of jet downed by Turkey
Moscow (AFP) Dec 18, 2015 - In the presence of foreign experts, Russian officials on Friday opened the damaged black box of a warplane shot down by Turkey last month, promising a transparent probe into the incident.

Officials warned that the memory card sustained damage as they opened the orange-painted flight recorder, with British and Chinese experts observing the procedure, an AFP correspondent saw.

Wearing lab coats and gloves, technicians used screwdrivers, drills, and even a vacuum cleaner as they opened the device under the watchful eyes of military personnel and dozens of journalists in a live national television broadcast.

"Our specialists extracted the memory card, but unfortunately it sustained mechanical damage," said Sergei Bainetov, the deputy head of flight safety in the Russian armed forces, without elaborating on whether flight data could have been lost.

"The commission will discuss the situation calling upon international observers," he added.

The military said the black box had sustained damage, including multiple scratches and dents, but had not been exposed to the fire at the crash site.

The black box's findings will be revealed on Monday, the air force said.

Sergei Dronov, deputy head commander of the Russian air force, for his part said the device was being analysed "openly for the Russian and international public" after President Vladimir Putin had ordered that it be opened in the presence of foreign specialists.

Moscow and Ankara have been locked in a bitter spat over Turkey's downing of the Su-24 jet on November 24, which led to the deaths of a pilot and another serviceman who attempted to rescue him.

They were Russia's first combat casualties of the Syrian campaign, which it launched on September 30.

Turkey says the Russian jet strayed into its airspace and ignored repeated warnings, while Moscow insisted it did not cross over from Syria and accused Ankara of a planned provocation.

"We have sufficient evidence that proves that the Russian aircraft did not violate Turkish airspace," said Dronov, adding that the downed plane had been flying in Syrian airspace 5.5 kilometres (around three miles) from the border with Turkey.

- Britain, China assist probe -

Dronov said the black box presented to the public on Friday had not been touched since it was recovered from the crash site.

The air force commander said 14 countries had been invited to monitor the investigation but only China and Britain had accepted the official offer.

Some US experts were also present when the black box was opened.

Putin has said an analysis of the black box would help determine the downed jet's flight path and position, which Ankara and Moscow have furiously disagreed upon.

But the Russian leader also warned that no black box finding could assuage Moscow's anger over the incident.

The downing of the jet triggered the biggest crisis in ties between Moscow and Ankara since the end of the Cold War, with Russia slapping a raft of economic sanctions against Turkey.

Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said the Russian military had retrieved the black box after Syrian special forces "liberated" rebel-held territory where the jet was shot down.