The day of engineer troops was marked in Russia on January 21. Military engineering forces are among the oldest in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. On that day in 1701 Peter the Great signed a decree on creation in Moscow a school of Pushkarsky (cannon) office for artillery officers’ and military engineers’ training. Modern engineer troops are special forces designed to perform the most complex tasks of engineer support for military operations. In 2017, Russian combat engineers demined the cities of Palmyra, Aleppo and Deir ez Zor in Syria. In total, more than 6.5 thousand hectares of territory were cleared and 1,5 thousand km of roads and 17000 buildings were demined. Russia's military engineering forces - in photo gallery by TASS.