MOSCOW. Feb 14 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Armed Forces have accomplished the presidential mission to accomodate the 42nd motorized rifle division in Chechnya on a permanent basis, Colonel General Alexander Kosovan, deputy defense minister and head of the construction and troops quartering, said on Thursday.
Over 200 infrastructure installations have been commissioned for the 42nd division, Kosovan told reporters. total of over 16,500 people moved to warm barracks and houses in 2001," the deputy minister said.
The Armed Forces spent RUB4bn (USD129.65m) on the accommodation of the 42nd division in Chechnya in 2000 and 2001. Over 5,500 military builders and about 6,000 pieces of equipment were moved to the republic in a very short term, Kosovan said. "Military builders have lost 29 officers, enlisted men and civilians while accomplishing missions in Chechnya," he noted.
According to Kosovan, unification of the Defense Ministry's construction network with those of other law-enforcement agencies is inexpedient. "We need no unification with anybody. Our military construction complex is capable of accomplishing all missions related to capital construction for all law-enforcement bodies on its own," he stressed.
Military builders are about to complete accommodation of Federal Security Service units and are erecting facilities in stationing areas of the Interior Ministry troops in Chechnya, the general said.
Besides, the military builders have been assigned the mission to create necessary infrastructure on the Chechen section of the Russian-Georgian border, he added.