A video, showing a process of the arrival of a battalion of the Russian military police at the Hmeymim airbase, has been published online.
Photo: YouTube / AhtubaTV
A battalion of the Russian military police was deployed to Aleppo, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. A video, showing the process of Russian troops exiting from a military transport airplane at the Hmeymim airbase and their forming-up before being sent to a new location for line of duty, was published online.
“A battalion of the military police of the Russian Defense Ministry was sent at the Hmeymim airbase by aircraft of the military transport aviation after undergoing an additional training on one of the polygons. At the moment, the unit marched from the Hmeymim airbase to the city of Aleppo in order to perform tasks as a part of the Russian Centre for reconciliation of opposing sides in Syria. The unit of the military police is staffed only by contract servicemen,” a statement of the Russian Defense Ministry reads.
Judging from the published video, one of the so-called Chechen battalions, whose deployment of which was previously announced, was sent to Aleppo.
“In order to maintain order on the liberated territories [of Aleppo], a battalion of the military police was introduced here on Thursday evening,” Shoigu said at a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to Shoigu, four Syrian inhabited localities were deblocked by an order of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the framework of the agreements with Iran and Turkey.
In particular, Shoigu meant two Shiite villages in Idlib. He noted that “more than 1,500 old men, women, children and wounded were evacuated from this area and placed under normal conditions.” In addition, two inhabited localities near Damascus were also deblocked. “In total, about 9,000 people were evacuated from there to Idlib. More than 9,000 pieces of small arms were surrendered,” the Defense Minister noted.
Putin stressed that this is a “very important part of the work,” as such “humanitarian exchanges” enhance trust between the sides of the conflict and create denominators to “move forward towards strengthening of the state, which is called reconciliation.”
“We will proceed further in this way,” the Russian President added.
Iran and Turkey have helped to create conditions for the withdrawal of almost 34,000 people including about 8,500 children, from Aleppo during the second phase of the operation to liberate the city, Shoigu pointed out.
Speaking about the second stage of the operation (the liberation of the southern part of eastern Aleppo), he reminded that “since December 15, hostilities have been ceased in order to provide the largest humanitarian operation, which consisted in the withdrawal of radical elements and members of their families.”
“As a result of this stage, during these days, we managed to create with our Turkish and Iranian counterparts and, of course, with the Syrian authorities the conditions for the withdrawal of nearly 34,000 people, 14,000 of whom are men, about 8,500 are children and practically the same number are women,” the Russian Defense Minister said.
RUSSIANS are TRUE warriors and liberators and defenders of the weaker from the bullies. THAT much is clear.
Compare this to the US occupation of Iraq in 2003 where they didn’t even consider security in the wake of the their invasion and dismantling of the Iraqi government.
I think also this will relieve SAA of some duties for use of forces elsewhere while maintaining a low RU profile.
Chechen battalions, courtesy of Ramzan Kadyrov?
This is a good call by Russia – winning the peace is as important as winning the war.
Well done Russia for all you have done in Syria against all the western propaganda and endless lies and deceit. Simply put we do not believe our Western Governments any more and media has morphed into nothing other than propaganda rags and scurrelous downmarket rubbish which pollute the minds of the people. This is what happens when corrupt and morally bankrupt corporatism takes over a country
These are Chechen special forces given the designation of military police. Once they are deployed , the Russian Army proper will take on the MP duty. These excellent Chechen soldiers will probably be deployed to the next big offensive in this war. Together with the recent massive Russian resupply and reinforcements spotted at sea , I think the Russians are gearing up to take a direct role in the ground fighting. 2017 is shaping up as the decisive year. If all goes to plan , military operations will wrap up by July , with a negotiated settlement by the end of the year.