MOSCOW, February 22 (AVN) - A train with paratroopers of the 108th airborne regiment of the 7th airborne division will leave the city of Novorossiysk on the Russian Black Sea coast for the Grozny suburb Khankala on Thursday, a spokesman for the Airborne Staff told the Military News Agency.
About 500 servicemen of the regiment under command of Colonel Vladimir Treryak will replace their brothers in arms in Chechnya as envisaged by a directive of Chief-of-Staff Anatoly Kvashnin and Airborne Commander Georgy Shpak, the spokesman said. The new shift of paratroopers has taken a three-month training course at the Rayevsky highland range near Novorossiysk. They are ready to accomplish combat missions in forest covered mountains of the North Caucasus.
The paratroopers will replace the regiment-size task force of the 247th airborne regiment of the same division that has been operating in Chechnya since September 2000. The rotation will not feature replacement of combat equipment and heavy armament.