Air force to take 200 Russian peacekeepers to Sudan
Dec 22, 2005 (MOSCOW) — Military transport planes will make over 40 flights to airlift Russian peacekeepers to Sudan, Col Aleksandr Drobyshevskiy, the air force press service chief, said on Thursday.
“The military transport aviation’s Il-76 planes will make over 30 flights, An-124 Ruslan planes five flights, and An-22 Antey planes another five flights to deliver the personnel, combat hardware, armaments, ammunition and other assets to Sudan,” Drobyshevskiy told Interfax-Military News Agency.
He was asked to comment on the Russian leadership’s decision to send up to 200 servicemen of the Defence Ministry and four Mi-8MT transport and combat helicopters to join the UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan.
According to Drobyshevskiy, aircraft are being prepared for the departure, and pilots and technicians are being selected on a competitive basis.
“The servicemen who are selected for the peacekeeping mission are expected to go through a comprehensive medical checkup in January next year. After that they will start special training at army aviation’s 334th flight personnel retraining centre in Torzhok, Tver Region,” the colonel said.
The Russian peacekeepers and hardware will leave for Sudan from Migalovo airfield in Tver, Drobyshevskiy said.
He said “the mission to send a peacekeeping aviation team to Sudan will be accomplished in due time and at a high quality level”. “We have accomplished these missions before, and done it quite successfully, which is confirmed by the positive response from the UN and other international organizations,” he said.
President Vladimir Putin has submitted a proposal to the Federation Council, suggesting the use of a Russian military unit in the UN peacekeeping operation in Sudan.
(Interfax-AVN/ST)