Russian combat engineers have completed the process of mine clearance of the city of Aleppo and returned to their homeland.
Russian combat engineers in Aleppo (Photo: TASS / Russian Defense Ministry’s press service)
Russian combat engineers, who were engaged in demining of the Syrian city of Aleppo, have returned to Russia, the Russian Defense Ministry reported on Tuesday.
“A solemn ceremony of meeting and honoring of servicemen, arrived after performing of tasks of humanitarian mine clearance of the city of Aleppo on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, was held on the territory of the International Mine Action Centre of the Russian Armed Forces, located in the village of Nakhabino, Moscow region,” a statement of the Defense Ministry reads.
The department noted that over 30 servicemen were awarded with government and departmental awards.
According to the Russian ‘First Channel’ TV-channel, the further work on demining of Aleppo will be continued by Syrian engineering troops, for whom modern equipment was left.
On February 16, at a meeting with UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the International Mine Action Centre has prepared the first group of Syrian sappers for mine neutralization and handed over to them the appropriate equipment.
Mine clearance specialists had been working in Aleppo during two and a half months. In total, for this period, they managed to clear 2,956 hectares of the territory, 945 kilometers of roads, more than 4,500 of buildings and constructions, as well as to discover and neutralize about 36,000 of explosive objects.