KHANKALA, March 13 (AVN) - The 74th separate motorised rifle brigade is the first large unit to leave the North Caucasus within the framework of the force reduction, the Military News Agency learned on Tuesday.
The brigade is to return to its permanent location in the Siberian military district and there was a send-off ceremony in Khankala.
Some units of the brigade have arrived at the Dagestani town of Khasavyurt. A mass rally will be held in Makhachkala on Wednesday to celebrate departure of Siberian soldiers, who will head for their garrison in the town of Yurga, Kemerovo region.
The 3,800-strong 74th brigade was deployed in the North Caucasus in September 1999. It took part in elimination of the remnants of Wahhabi groups in alpine Dagestan and capture of the Terski Range, sealed off Gudermes and drove rebels out of Serzhen-Yurt and Kurchaloi. The brigade suffered 80 killed and 189 wounded during the present Chechnya campaign.
During the first campaign the brigade suffered 128 killed and 226 wounded from December 1994 till April 1995.