Russia Withdraws Fighter Jets From Syria

The Russian Armed Forces have started withdrawing its air group from Syria.

“Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered to redeploy main part of the Russian Armed Forces grouping which had been performing tasks on eliminating terrorists in Syria, starting from March 15, 2016,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement today.

Sergei Shoigu commanded to redeploying main part of the Russian Armed Forces grouping, which had been performing tasks on eliminating terrorists in the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, to the territory of the Russian Federation.

Technical staff of the airbase started preparing aircraft for the long-range flight to the Russian Federation airfields. The personnel are loading equipment, logistics items and inventory into transport aviation aircraft.

Aircraft are to carry out flight from the Hmeymim airbase to permanent location airfields on the territory of Russia accompanied by military transport aviation. In the course of the long-range flight (more than 5,000 km), the aircraft will conduct intermediate flight stops at the Russian Federation airfields for being refuelling and technical condition monitoring, the statement said.