23 Mar 2020 09:39

All nine Russian Defense Ministry planes with virologists arrive in Italy

MOSCOW. March 23 (Interfax) - The eighth and ninth Russian military airplanes arrived at an airbase near Rome on Monday as part of steps to help Italy counter the coronavirus epidemic, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"The eighth and ninth [Ilyushin] Il-76 military-transport planes of the Russian Aerospace Forces carrying a group of Russian military specialists and mobile chemical spraying stations for disinfection efforts have arrived at the Italian Air Force's Pratica di Mare Air Base [30 kilometers southwest of Rome]," it said.