MOSCOW. Jan 11 (Interfax-AVN) - Bad winter weather greatly complicates the operations of attack aircraft in Chechnya, Russian Air Force Commander-in-Chief Army General Anatoly Kornukov told Interfax on Friday.
"The snow hinders the possibility of detecting rebel bases and camps from the air," he said. "Practically all combat missions require triple checking of targets by army aviation, the Interior Ministry and the Federal Security Service," he said. The whereabouts of rebel groups are also tracked when their leaders communicate.
Kornukov said that at the end of 2001, "the intensity of aviation operations in Chechnya grew due to special efforts to neutralize the remnants of rebel formations."
When asked about the use of Russian military transport aviation in Afghanistan he said that it is not involved in the anti-terrorist operation being conducted by the United States together with NATO.
At the same time he said "Russian national security interests permit the use of aviation to guarantee a Russian military or other presence in a strategically important part of the world such as Afghanistan." Military transport aviation is highly mobile, and has a big payload and range, he said.
Kornukov said that the main tasks of the Russian military transport aviation in the region is air-lifting humanitarian cargoes as well as "the transportation of equipment and cargoes in the interests of the Russian government."
He said that at the end of 2001 Russian Il-76 aircraft flew more than 100 people, 20 units of equipment and about 40 tonnes of cargo to Bagram airdrome.
Emergency plans have been made for military transport planes to evacuate the diplomatic and security personnel of the Russian embassy in Kabul, Kornukov said.