Russian President Vladimir Putin asked the Defense Ministry to start the pullout of the Russian military group from Syria. Putin made this statement while speaking before Russian servicemen at the Hmeymim airbase in Syria. The military operation was launched by Russian Aerospace Forces on September 30, 2015. According to data as of September 22, 2017, Russian aircraft have made over 30,000 sorties, delivered 92,000 strikes and eliminated about 58,000 terrorists since the start of the anti-terror operation in Syria.