Russia’s Ingushetia dispatched military policemen to Syria

Ingushetia has sent a military police battalion to Syria, Ingush leader Yunus-Bek Yevkurov said on February 13, adding their mission was to help ensure security of Russian air force personnel and peacekeepers in Syrian towns and villages where ceasefire had been achieved.

“I’m sure our lads will make good at fulfilling the tasks set by our commander-in-chief and defense minister,” Yevkurov said.

The battalion is to take the place of Chechen military who have been in Syria since December last year, Russian media report citing their sources in the law-enforcement agencies.

The presence of Chechen military in Syria is something Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov only confirmed in January, more than a month after the news about it was first broken by the newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

Russia has run a military operation to support Bashar Assad’s army in Syria since September 2015. Its part in the fighting has been mostly confined to airstrikes. What ground forces it has deployed in Syria are there mostly to protect the air force bases and installations.