MOSCOW. July 24 (Interfax-AVN) - A military transport plane will leave Kosovo on Thursday to deliver officers of the Russian military contingent's headquarters and management department back home, head of the peacekeeping department at the Land Forces Command Colonel Sergei Serkov told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"At 10:00 a.m. Moscow time (0600 GMT) on Thursday, the last aircraft will depart from Kosovo and carry officers of the headquarters and the management department to Chkalovsky airfield. Arrival is scheduled for approximately 1:00 p.m. Moscow time (0900 GMT)," he said.
"Thus, the withdrawal of peacekeepers from the former Yugoslavia will be wrapped up. By August 1, all Russian peacekeepers will return from the Balkans to their homeland, as prescribed by the supreme commander-in-chief," he said.
The last train carrying soldiers of the Russian military contingent that served with international peacekeeping forces in Kosovo departed for Russia on Wednesday evening. The train is expected to arrive at the Nara terminal in the Moscow region at 6:00 a.m. Moscow time (0200 GMT) on July 30.
Trains and planes with Russian peacekeepers started leaving the Balkans on June 5. The Russian peacekeeping contingent that had served in Boznia within SFOR since January 1996 was withdrawn from June 5 to 14. Its strength before the pullout amounted to 320 personnel.
The withdrawal of the peacekeeping contingent that had been a part of KFOR in Kosovo since June 1999 started on June 17. The contingent numbered 650 officers, warrant officers and professional privates before the pullout.
Land Forces Commander-in-Chief Nikolai Kormiltsev exercised general supervision over the withdrawal in line with instructions of Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov. It took 13 railway trains and about 10 flights to transport the contingents and their property back to Russia.
According to the Defense Ministry, Russia spent over USD26m annually on maintenance of its peacekeepers at the Balkans.