Fears are growing for 275,000 civilians in Aleppo as Vladimir Putin prepares to launch a military attack on the Syrian city this week.

The Russian President is thought to be trying to take advantage of political limbo in the United States where Barack Obama has become a 'lame duck' president and the country is consumed by the race for the White House.

With the US election on November 8, a Russian flotilla of battleships, led by the aircraft carrier Admiral Kuznetsov, is making its way through the Mediterranean on its way to attack the war-torn city, and it is believed submarines are going to join them.

Tensions between Russia and the West have escalated due to Moscow's indiscriminate bombings in Aleppo, where the war rages between rebels and the Putin-backed Bashar al-Assad.

A western intelligence source told The Times: 'We think that the Russians are on the brink of a major military assault on Aleppo.

'There could be significant humanitarian consequences.' 

Aleppo, Syria's second biggest city, has become the main stage of conflict between President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia, Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah militia; and Sunni rebels including some supported by Turkey, Gulf monarchies and the United States. 

While Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are engaged in a fierce war of words with only a week to go until election day, Putin knows President Obama is unlikely to risk his legacy by seeking a confrontation with Syria.

The new president will not be inaugurated until January, which means Putin and Assad could have two months to batter the rebels in Aleppo into submission. 

Russian submarines were detected in the Irish Sea as tensions rise between Moscow and Britain over the Kremlin's aggression in Syria and Eastern Europe. 

News of the ships in British waters will will further fuel already tense relations with Russia after Britain decided to send tanks, aircraft and up to 800 troops to Estonia to deter aggression from Moscow. 

(DM)