First group of Russian sappers en route to Syria's Palmyra - TV
MOSCOW. March 29 (Interfax) - The first group of Russian sappers has left for Syria to help clear the city of Palmyra of mines, the Zvezda television and radio station said in a report published on its website on Tuesday.
"The first group of specialists from the international mine action center of Russia's Defense Ministry has left for Syria from the Chkalovsky airfield in the Moscow region. The information available to Zvezda indicates that specialized mine-clearing robots and other necessary equipment were loaded onto the [Antonov] An-124 [airplane]," it said.
Russian Armed Forces General Staff Chief and First Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Valery Gerasimov said on Monday that in the near future, units of Russia's engineer troops, including specialists of the international mine action center, and robotic systems would be sent to Syria to clear Palmyra of mines.
Last weekend, the Syrian army, backed by Russian aviation, recaptured Palmyra from militants of Islamic State (a terrorist group outlawed in Russia).
Clearing Palmyra of mines completely may take several months, a military expert and former chief of the Russian Armed Forces' engineer troops, Retired Col. Gen. Nikolai Serdtsev, told Interfax-AVN earlier.