MOSCOW, May 19. /ITAR-TASS/. Military engineers have laid 125 klilometres of freshwater pipeline to fend off drought among communities in Russia's Crimea, Deputy Defense Minister General Dmitry Bulgakov said on Monday.

Artesian springs will freshen the cities of Feodosia, Stary Krym and other settlements in the peninsula's southeast following the line's completion by logistics troops from the army's western and southern military districts. Bulgakov said.

The links have been laid in a project launched at the beginning of this month when Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu tasked army personnel to keep the land and its people watered.

"Pipeline mains have been laid stretching for more than 125 kilometres with daily throughput capacity of more than 9,000 cubic metres,” the minister said.