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Military drills

Russian paratroopers heading to Egypt for joint drills

The Russian-Egyptian exercise Friendship Defenders 2016 will be held in Egypt on October 15-26

© Valery Matytsin/TASS

MOSCOW, October 15. /TASS/. Russia’s paratroopers have set off for Egypt to take part in joint anti-terror drills, the Friendship Defenders 2016, the Airborne Forces spokesman Yevgeny Meshkov said on Saturday.

"Today the beginning of Russian paratroopers’ deployment to Egypt signaled the start of the Friendship Defenders 2016 anti-terror drills," Meshkov said adding that for Russia’s troops these exercises are "one of the first experiences of joint events of airborne units of the two countries on the African continent."

The deployment of forces with their armament and equipment is carried out from Russia’s Dyagilevo airfield in the Ryazan region, in the Central federal district, with the use of Il-76 aircraft of the military-transport aviation, he said.

The Russian-Egyptian exercise Friendship Defenders 2016 will be held in Egypt on October 15-26. The drills will involve more than 15 helicopters and planes, 10 items of air-droppable military hardware and over 500 Russian and Egyptian servicemen. The maneuvers will take place at several airfields.

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