The first Russian troops returned home on Tuesday (December 12th) from their deployment in Syria, beginning a partial withdrawal announced by President Vladimir Putin, AFP reported.
"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] airport," the Russian army said in a statement.
The crews of Tu-22M3 bombers also returned to a military airport in North Ossetia before flying out to their permanent base in central Kaluga region, the army said.
The crew of an A-50 surveillance aircraft flew back to their home base in Ivanovo region.
On a visit to Syria on Monday, Putin ordered the partial withdrawal of Russian troops from the war-torn country.
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.
