MOSCOW. Nov 10 (Interfax-AVN) - A rotation of the federal airborne grouping that is accomplishing missions in Chechnya started on Sunday, a competent source in the Airborne Staff told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The first train with a regiment-size task force established on the basis of the 106th airborne division headquartered in Tula and led by Major General Yevgeny Savilov will head for the North Caucasus from the Naro-Fominsk terminal in the Moscow region on Sunday. The task force comprises over 400 paratroopers from the 119th paratrooper regiment of the division.
"The rotation of the paratrooper units within the unified federal troops group happens in accordance with a directive of the chief-of-staff and order of the defense minister. Personnel of the new shift underwent three-month training on a special program and is ready to carry out combat missions in forest-covered mountains of the North Caucasus," the source said.
He stressed that the current rotation was postponed for 10 days to Sunday due to the conduction of a special operation in Chechnya. "The rotation will end in a month and will have one stage. The personnel is transported by rail," the source noted.
A regiment-size task force, two battalion-size task forces, a composite reconnaissance unit and an artillery battalion of the Airborne Troops are operating in Chechnya. The strength of the paratroopers totals some 3,000 people.