KHANKALA, April 4 (AVN) - Russian Airborne Commander Georgy Shpak has appointed Colonel Vladimir Levensky commander of the airborne operations group in the North Caucasus and deputy commander of the unified federal group in Chechnya, a spokesman for the unified federal headquarters told the Military News Agency on Wednesday.
Levensky succeeded Colonel Yuri Stremoukhov that retured to the Airborne Staff several days ago, the spokesman said. Previously Levensky headed the Airborne Staff combat training department .
Currently there are three regiment-size and brigade-size airborne task forces in the south of Chechnya with some 4,000 servicemen on the manning table. Airborne units form the basis of federal troops in the Vedeno and Nozhai-Yurt districts, they are still fully involved in special operations against rebel groups and constantly accomplishing reconnaissance and search missions.