A FLEET of Russian warships packed with thousands of tons of weapons is steaming towards the English Channel.

Humiliated Vladimir Putin is repatriating artillery and ammunition after losing use of military bases in Syria.

It comes as another embarrassing setback for the despot after the fall of Kremlin ally Bashar al-Assad.

Putin’s convoy of ships laden with expensive military equipment is expected to sail through English waters within days after departing from Tartus.

The armada, understood to be heading for Russian naval port Baltiysk in the Baltic, is sailing north in the Atlantic along the Portuguese coast after passing through the Strait of Gibraltar.

HMS Cutlass – one of the smallest ships in the Royal Navy’s fleet – shadowed two convoys through the water passage, maritime tracking data appears to show.

RFS Alexsandr Otrakovsky lead Sparta, Sparta II and General Skobelev through the strait early on Sunday, while Ivan Gren and tanker Yelnya later followed – escorted by Cutlass.

Putin’s warships are expected to reach the English Channel in several days, passing through UK and French territorial waters.

The convoy includes the Sparta and Sparta II – Russian-flagged roll-on/roll-off cargo ships used by Putin’s defence ministry – as well as military tanker General Skobelev.

Sabre-rattling Putin deployed his notoriously dangerous Admiral Golovko warship to accompany the vessels as they moved through the Mediterranean.

Two large landing ships capable of carrying large quantities of military equipment – Ivan Gren and Alexander Otrakovsky – were seen as part of the convoy.

The Sparta has reportedly suffered technical problems both en route to Tartus and on its return journey.

In December it suffered a malfunction in its main engine’s fuel pipe near the Portuguese coast, as it headed to the Mediterranean.

Earlier this month, it anchored east of Malta due to technical problems, according to reports.

The military equipment was collected from Tartus, a Russian naval base before the fall of the Russian-backed Assad dynasty on December 8.

It was one of two military bases closed off to Russia since the new Syrian government took hold.

Putin was told he could keep them open if he handed back al-Assad, reports said.

The dictator granted his al-Assad political asylum in Russia after making a cowardly escape from Syria just hours before rebels captured his palace in their lightning blitz that ousted his regime.

It comes after one of Putin’s killer submarines was last month seen in the Channel after being forced to sail back from a key port in Syria

The attack sub Novorossiysk was watched by Royal Navy Merlin sub-hunting choppers and the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tidespring as it sailed through.

Weeks earlier, Royal Navy tanker RFA Tidesurge shepherded Russian vessels past the UK after it was scrambled on Christmas Day to monitor Putin’s Corvette RFS Soobrazitelny.