title: polls are tightening but is the us presidential election rigged
text: rt october   
  top nato  eu officials expressed anger at spains permit reportedly issued to a russian aircraft carrier group to take on fuel and supplies at ceuta a city with unclear political status spain says russias warships have been mooring there for years 
  a barrage of harsh statements followed when spanish media reported that russias naval battle group led by aircraft carrier admiral kuznetsov would make a stopover at the autonomous port of ceuta after passing the straits of gibraltar on wednesday 
  battle stations putins fearsome fleet locked loaded  ready for war with britain or not 
  russian ships would moor in ceuta to take on fuel and supplies under a permit issued by spains foreign ministry spanish newspaper abc reported on tuesday also citing defense minister pedro morenes who said that there was a prior authorization for this particular case 
  guy verhofstadt former belgian prime minister and currently eu envoy for brexit talks with the uk expressed his outrage calling spains decision the harassment of eu and nato forces 
  in a facebook post he said that nato member spain provides assistance to a fleet which has one purpose adding that only last week this spanish government signed up to a statement from the european council accusing russia of war crimes against civilians in aleppo 
  later in the day nato secretary general jens stoltenberg made it clear that the bloc wants madrid to rethink the stopover permit a d v e r t i s e m e n t 
  we are concerned and i have expressed that very clearly about potential use of this battle group to increase russias ability and to be a platform for airstrikes against syria he said 
  this is something i have conveyed very clearly before and i repeat those concerns today and i believe that all nato allies are aware that this battle group can be used to conduct airstrikes against aleppo and syria 
  he then downplayed the rhetoric noting that its for each nation to decide whether these ships can get supplies and be fuelled in different harbors along the route towards the eastern mediterranean 
  late tuesday night the spanish foreign ministry said it was reviewing the decision the latest stopover requests are being reviewed at the moment based on the information we are receiving from our allies and from russian authorities the ministry said in a statement quoted by reuters 
  earlier in the day however the ministry told ria novosti that madrid allows russian ships to dock in spanish ports as routine navigation which effectively lies outside eu sanctions imposed on moscow 
  in the meantime a spokesman for the foreign ministry told the telegraph the requests from the russian navy are considered on casebycase basis stressing that russian navy vessels have been making calls in spanish ports for years 
  ceuta an autonomous spanish enclave on the tip of africas northern coast lies along the straits of gibraltar and borders morocco which also claims the territory as its own 
  although ceuta is part of the eu its status within nato is still unresolved since  spain has rankled the bloc by allowing  russian warships to refuel at the enclave 
  the mission of the admiral kuznetsov carrier group has already triggered a media frenzy across europe with british norwegian and dutch navies sending frigates and surveillance vessels to shadow the russian warships as they round european shores through international waters 
  once they reach syrian shores the ships will provide backup for russias naval standing group already deployed to the area according to the russian defense ministry this article was posted wednesday october   at  am share this article