Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. November 7th. INTERFAX - The entire command staff of the Russian Armed Forces has Syrian combat experience, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
"Very, very high morale. This is also due to the fact that we have virtually all commanders of all levels, commanders of regiments, brigades, divisions, armies, district commanders, chiefs of staff, up to battalion commanders - we have all gone through the Syrian operation, so everyone has, of course, combat experience," Shoigu said in an interview with the host of the Moscow program. The Kremlin. Putin" to Pavel Zarubin (Rossiya-1 TV channel, VGTRK).
"More than ninety percent of our pilots have combat experience and, there, someone has a hundred, and there are those who have four hundred sorties - this, of course, is a completely different army," he said.
Russia has been conducting a military operation in Syria since September 30, 2015. Russia has an airbase in Syria at the Khmeimim airfield and a Navy base in the port of Tartus. Planes and helicopters of the Russian Aerospace Forces support the ground operations of the Syrian army. It was officially reported that special operations forces of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, divisions of the center for reconciliation of the warring parties, military police, marines and others are operating in Syria.
About the meetings on military issues held this week by Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi, Shoigu said: "We have already moved on from such, you know, pulling up, pulling out and extinguishing emerging foci, imperfections and shortcomings that were, and this is not the first meeting when we are conducting normal, planned, stable work. In Soviet terms, I will say planned economy."
