MURMANSK, December 6 (AVN) - The Rys special detachment of the Murmansk regional penitentiary department will leave for Chechnya in the next few days, a department spokesman said on Monday.
Rys servicemen underwent a special training course at a Northern Fleet marine testing ground in the village of Sputnik last month, the spokesman told the Military News Agency. They are equipped with winter clothes and additional weapons necessary for mountainous warfare, he added.
The detachment's mission is to protect filtration points and detention wards in Chechnya's adjacent territories, to mop up localities recently freed from guerrillas and to escort criminals.
Special units of Arkhangelsk, Vologda and Karelian penitentiary departments are also likely to head for Chechnya.