Putin sends deal with Syria on deploying Russia aviation group to Duma for ratification

MOSCOW, August 9. /TASS/. President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, for ratification a draft agreement with Syria on deployment of an aviation group of Russia’s Armed Forces on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic. The document was posted on Tuesday in the Duma's electronic database. Deputy Defense Minister and State Secretary Nikolai Pankov has been appointed official representative of the president in charge of considering the agreement in the parliament. The agreement was signed by the Russian and Syrian defense ministries in Damascus on August 26, 2015. The document says that "deployment of a Russian aviation group on the Syrian territory is in line with the aims of maintaining peace and stability in the region, is of defensive nature and is not directed against any other countries." The agreement envisages deployment of the Russian aviation group on the Hmeymim air base with all infrastructure free of charge. The duration of the agreement is not limited, and one of the two sides can cancel the agreement by notifying another side in the written format. Russia’s Aerospace Forces started delivering pinpoint strikes in Syria at facilities of Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra (terrorist organizations banned in Russia) on September 30, 2015, at the request from Syrian President Bashar Assad. In mid-March 2016, Putin ordered to start withdrawing the main part of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ group from Syria. Putin said the tasks set before the military "have been fulfilled on the whole." Two Russian military facilities - at the Hmeymim aerodrome and in Tartus - are still operational in Syria. The Russian military continue to take an active part in the fight against terrorist groups. Read more