MAIKOP. Nov 12 (Interfax-AVN) - More than 12,000 coalition troops have crossed Russia on their way to or from Afghanistan since February, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Thursday.
"Since February of this year, German Air Force military transport planes have carried out 105 flights over our territory. And more than 12,000 troops have been carried by air or ground both ways, that is to Afghanistan or back from Afghanistan to Germany, and they were not only Bundeswehr troops, but also troops from other states taking part in the international Stabilization Force in Afghanistan," Ivanov told reporters in Maikop.
Russia has agreements on military transit to and from Afghanistan with Germany and France, "but we are not closed and are not against possible applications from other countries. But such agreements are possible only on a bilateral basis, only with an individual state, as agreements make provision both for legal and financial liability in case of some kind of adverse situation," he said.