Russian-Turkish patrol underway in northeast Syria
MOSCOW. Dec 19 (Interfax) - Russia and Turkey began patrolling a border district located several dozen kilometers east of the Syrian city of Qamishli at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time on Thursday, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement seen by Interfax.
"A joint patrol mission is being conducted along a route from the Deiruna Aga customs crossing, where Russian military policemen and representatives of the Armed Forces of Turkey detailed the joint patrol mission's route going westward along the Syrian-Turkish border," the statement said.
The joint patrol is inspecting the situation in Syrian towns and villages along its route.
Army aviation helicopters from the Russian Aerospace Forces are conducting an aerial patrol of the area.
Some 50 Russian and Turkish servicemen are participating in the joint patrol. They are using eight units of military hardware - Tigr armored vehicles and BTR-80 armored personnel carriers provided by the Russian military police and Kirpi armored vehicles from the Turkish Armed Forces.
An Orlan-10 unmanned aerial vehicle from the Russian military is monitoring the situation on the patrol route in real time, the statement said.
Russian-Turkish joint patrols along the Syrian-Turkish border are being carried out under the two countries' memorandum signed in Sochi on October 22. During such missions, Russian military police units work together with the Syrian and Turkish border services to maintain security and order and oversee the implementation of the memorandum on removing Kurdish self-defense units 30 kilometers away from the border.