CHKALOVSKY, Moscow Region. Dec 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Russian peacekeepers in Kosovo will get New Year presents and aid from their patrons, Colonel Alexander Chechetenko, deputy commander of the Land Forces and head of the political work department, told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"An IL-76 Candid plane left the Chkalovsky airfield in the Moscow region for the Pristina airfield in Kosovo on Tuesday morning to deliver presents and aid from the Moscow mayor's office and city administration to peacekeepers," Chechetenko said.
The servicemen will get TV sets, computer hardware, books, stationery, "everything that a soldier needs for regular accomplishment of peacekeeping functions," he noted.
"Thousands of Land Forces servicemen accomplish peacekeeping missions far from Russia. We have been accomplishing these missions instead of the Airborne Troops for nearly a year," Chechetenko noted. Servicemen of the Combined Federal Forces in the North Caucasus will also get aid from patrons, he added.
"The first batch of aid collected in the Leningrad military district left for Khankala, Chechnya, on December 17. Batches collected in the Moscow and Far Eastern military district were shipped on December 23. A plane from the Siberian military district will fly there on Wednesday," the colonel said.
The Russian peacekeeping contingent within KFOR comprises over 600 officers, warrant officers and professional servicemen. Its 13th battalion-size task force is accomplishing missions within Multinational Brigade East on the border between Kosovo and Macedonia. The task force consists of over 400 officers, warrant officers and professional servicemen.
The Russian military contingent has been operating in Kosovo since July 1999. It is under command of Major General Nikolai Kriventsov.