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Russian military doctors back home from Syria

The Northern Fleet aircraft carrier strike group was the first to leave the region

YEKATERINBURG, January 19. /TASS/. Army doctors of the special purpose medical unit from the Russian Central Military District have returned to the Russian southwestern Siberian city of Novosibirsk after their mission accomplished in Syria, the district’s press service said on Thursday.

"An Ilyushin-76 plane of the Russian Aerospace Force’s military transport aviation, with servicemen of the special purpose medical unit aboard, landed at Novosibirsk’s Tolmachevo airport returning from the Hmeimim air base," the spokesperson said.

Over 100 people from the unit were engaged in Syria.

On Tuesday, January 17, the commander of Russia’s military group in Syria, Colonel-General Andrey Kartapolov, said that the special purpose medical unit would return to Russia in coming days.

Russia began to curtail its military presence in Syria after truce, guaranteed by Moscow and Ankara, took effect on December 30, 2016. The ceasefire agreement had been concluded by the Syrian authorities and several armed opposition groups. It does not apply to the terrorist groups Islamic State and Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (former Jabhat al-Nusra), outlawed in Russia.

The Northern Fleet aircraft carrier strike group was the first to leave the region.