MOSCOW. May 29 (Interfax-AVN) - Personnel rotation began in the airborne operations force in the framework of the Combined Federal Force in the North Caucasus on Thursday, a competent source in the Defense Ministry told Interfax-Military News Agency.
The rotation started in line with a directive of Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Anatoly Kvashnin and Airborne Forces Commander Georgy Shpak, the source said.
"The first train with a battalion-size task force made on the basis of the 51st paratrooper regiment of the 106th airborne division leaves Tula for the North Caucasus on Thursday. The train carries about 500 paratroopers with armament and military hardware," the source noted.
The rotation will be completed before the end of June, he went on. A new shift of paratroopers will replace the personnel of the 119th paratrooper company of the 106th division. The division under command of Major General Yevgeny Savilov is headquartered in Tula, central European Russia.
"The 51st regiment's paratroopers have taken a three-month training course at a proving range near Tula using a special program, and they are ready to accomplish combat missions in forest covered mountains of the North Caucasus," the source said.
He stressed that all paratrooper task forces will be replaced with new ones during the current rotation.
The Airborne Forces maintain a regiment-size task force, two battalion-size task forces, a composite reconnaissance detachment, and an artillery battalion in Chechnya. The total number of paratroopers exceeds 2,500. Paratroopers are stationed in basic areas in southern Chechnya.