President Vladimir Putin announced on March 14 that Russia was
withdrawing the bulk of its military contingent in Syria. Around half
its fixed-wing strike aircraft flew out in the days that followed.
Russia says one of its attack helicopters crashes in Syria(The Aviationist)
A Russian Mi-28N Night Hunter attack helicopter crashed in Syria in the early hours of Tuesday morning killing both pilots, Russia's Defence Ministry said.
The
ministry said the helicopter, which crashed in Homs province, had not
been shot down, but the cause of the incident was unclear.
"A group of specialists is working at the crash site to investigate the incident,"
the ministry said in a statement. The pilots' bodies had been recovered
and brought back to Russia's air base in Hmeymim in Latakia province,
it said.
President Vladimir Putin
announced on March 14 that Russia was withdrawing the bulk of its
military contingent in Syria. Around half its fixed-wing strike aircraft
flew out in the days that followed.
But Russia continued to ship significant quantities of military supplies to Syria and analysts said the Kremlin had changed rather than diluted its military capabilities, increasingly relying on helicopters to support the Syrian army.
Mi-28N
helicopters, broadly equivalent to America's Apache gunship, took part
in the Syrian government operation to push Islamic State out of the
ancient city of Palmyra last month, firing anti-tank rockets at armoured
vehicles.
The crash is the third aircraft Russia
has acknowledged losing in Syria. Turkey shot down a Russian Sukhoi-24
bomber near the Syrian-Turkish border on Nov. 24 and a helicopter sent
to rescue the pilots was then destroyed by rebels after landing.
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