MOSCOW, May 22 (AVN) - The Russian Airborne has lost 214 servicemen killed and 453 wounded since the outbreak of hostilities in Chechnya and Dagestan, Airborne Commander Georgy Shpak told the Military News Agency on Monday.
According to him, 32 killed and 84 wounded are officers.
More than a half of the current losses of the Airborne in the Nozhai-Yurt and Vedeno districts of Chechnya result from landmines and mine traps set up by guerrillas, Shpak said. They are also responsible for over 20 percent of damages to armoured vehicles, he added.
Rebels are making good use of forests and mountains and installing a large number of booby traps whose explosions affect many people at once, the commander went on. He recalled the recent explosion of three powerful landmines which simultaneously killed four troopers and wounded another 10.
Shpak blamed such high losses on the poor engineering skills of the troops, acute lack of modern mine clearing devices, weak protection of the armed vehicles from mines and landmines, and insufficient number of sapper units within the unified federal group.