Moscow. January 21. INTERFAX - Russian sappers have cleared more than 130 hectares of territory in Laos in four years, defusing more than 2 thousand explosive objects, said Yuri Stavitsky, head of the engineering troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.
"In total, since 2018, more than 130 hectares of territory have been cleared, more than 2 thousand explosive objects have been discovered and destroyed, most of which were aerial bombs in American-made cluster munitions," Stavitsky said in an interview with the Russian Defense Ministry newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda.
As reported, according to the decision of the President of the Russian Federation, the sappers of the International Mine Action Center for the fourth year in a row in the period from November to March perform humanitarian demining tasks in Laos. In November 2021, another detachment of 31 servicemen arrived in Laos.
"Currently, more than 12 hectares of territory have been cleared. However, it's not just about the indicators. Mine clearance is carried out scrupulously, without haste. The task requires composure and endurance," said the chief of engineering troops.
According to him, the features of mine clearance in Laos are an unfavorable hot climate, a tropical forest with dense vegetation, a large number of insects and poisonous snakes, as well as the occurrence of detectable ammunition at a depth of up to 170 cm and a large number of ferromagnetic elements, which significantly slows down the pace of the search.
Earlier, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that a detachment of sappers sent in November 2021 arrived in the Nakai district of Khammuan province, where they will conduct mine clearance "both in the jungle and in settlements where unexploded ordnance of half a century ago still threatens local residents."