...Second and fourth President and sixth of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law, which occasionally results in somebody dropping dead from polonium poisoning. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile or dead..."The battalion of military police from the southern military district (of Russia) deployed to the Syrian Arab Republic has been flown by two military planes to Makhachkala (the capital of Dagestan
...a formerly inoffensive Caucasus
republiccurrently bedevilled by low-level Islamic insurgency, occasional outbreaks of separatism, ethnic tensions and terrorism, primarily due to its proximity to Chechnya. There are several dozen ethnic groups, most of which speak either Caucasian, Turkic, or Iranian languages. Largest among these ethnic groups are the Avar, Dargin, Kumyk, Lezgin, and Laks. While Russers form less than five percent of the population, Russian remains the primary official language and the lingua franca...
) airport," the Russian army said in a statement.
State television broadcasted images of soldiers marching out of the aircraft onto a sunny runway in the small republic in Russia's North Caucasus.
The crews of Tu-22M3 bombers also returned to a military airport in North Ossetia before flying out to their permanent bases, the army said.
On a visit to Syria on Monday, Putin ordered the partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the war-torn country, saying their task had been largely completed.
It was the third announcement of a partial withdrawal since troops were deployed in 2015. Putin did not clarify how many soldiers will be returning home this time.
Putin, who announced last week he would seek a fourth term in a poll in March, was welcomed at Russia's Hmeimim airbase by Syrian
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneckal-Assad
Leveler of Latakia...
on his unannounced stopover.
Russia first intervened in the Syrian conflict in 2015, staging air strikes in support of its ally Damascus targeting both the Islamic State
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
group and other jihadists as well as rebels fighting government troops.
The size of the Russian deployment in Syria is not known but independent Russian military expert Pavel Felgenhauer has told AFP that up to 10,000 troops and private contractors could have taken part in the conflict.
Putin said both Russia's airbase Hmeimim and naval facility in Tartus would continue to function.