MOSCOW. May 24 (Interfax-AVN) - The Russian Emergencies Ministry has won a contract of the Greek Scorpion International Service company on extinguishing large-scale forest fires in the country, Lieutenant General Rafail Zakirov, chief of the ministry's aviation, told Interfax-Military News Agency on Friday.
The ministry's aviation group will leave for Greece on June 1.
"We are sending to Greece two MI-8MTV and one KA-32A helicopters each fitted with special water-dropping system made in Russia. The helicopters will be extinguishing large-scale forest fires," Zakirov said.
The two parties have agreed that the group will be stationed at the Elevsina airfield of the Greek Air Force on the outskirts of Athens and will stay there until November 1.
A similar group worked in Greece in 2001, Zakirov went on. "Among the most difficult areas were those in the vicinity of the Saloniki and Andravida localities, as well as the Crete, Chios and Rodos islands," he stressed.
Zakirov noted that the group operated in the country for four months in 2001, spending some 785 hours in the air and dropping 35,000t of water of fire epicenters.