Dagestan announces return of military police battalion from Syria
A battalion of military police from the Buynaksk Motor Rifle Brigade, previously stationed in Syria, will soon return to the Dagestan village of Botlikh, as announced by acting head of the Dagestan Republic Vladimir Vasilyev during a meeting in Makhachkala, RIA Dagestan reports.
He urged the local authorities to ensure that all the necessary conditions are created for the arriving soldiers. Vasilyev did not mention a specific date when the battalion would arrive from Syria, but he did say that the soldiers would be stationed in Botlikh.
“It’s very important. The role which Russia is playing in Syria today is decisive,” the acting Head of Dagestan noted, emphasizing that in his opinion, Syria has been “preserved” and saved from destruction solely thanks to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stance, as well as the “military collaboration” and “assistance of our aerospace forces”. “Few believe it, but today there [in Syria] the situation has changed for the better,” Vasilyev added, commenting that now “it is a full-fledged state which addresses challenges in the interests of its population”.
Vasilyev gave special attention to the women and children who are being brought from Syria to Dagestan. “This is a difficult topic, I am waiting for proactive suggestions from you, so that we can all take part in the process, and so that this return would make it possible to employ the women, make arrangements for the future of the children, and help us avoid problems in the future,” the acting head of the republic concluded.
Earlier, on November 13, it came out that more than 40 women and children had been brought from Syria to Grozny on a special flight.
The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the deployment of a battalion of Russian military police in Aleppo in December 2016. As the military department explained, the soldiers came to deal with tasks relating to the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria. The battalion’s tasks were to provide security for the center’s soldiers, specialists from the Russian International Anti-Mine Center and personnel from mobile hospitals and humanitarian convoys. In addition, the military police helped the local authorities to maintain order. “The military police division is only comprised of contract soldiers,” the Defense Ministry emphasized.
Later, in February 2017, a battalion of military police from the Republic of Ingushetia was sent to Syria. Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, head of the republic, called these soldiers a peacekeeping mission to provide security for the aviation group of the Russian aerospace forces, as well as for the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria.