Russian airborne troops can perform any task - Gryzlov

MOSCOW, August 3 (Itar-Tass) - Russian State Duma Speaker Boris
Gryzlov said on Saturday that the Russian airborne forces could perform any task.

"The Airborne Forces deserve to be called the elite of the Russian
Armed Forces, and it's a sacred dream of many young men to serve in them.

The airborne troops is a source of pride for the older generation," the speaker went on to say.

Gryzlov said that the Russian airborne troops - nicknamed the "winged infantry" - are famous not only in Russia but also abroad.

The speaker said that Russian airborne units had presented Russian
interests in peacekeeping missions abroad where they showed the Russian strength of mind and impeccable professionalism.

"Successful operations carried out during the Great Patriotic War and in various hotbeds of tension showed that the Russian airborne troops could perform any tasks," Gryzlov went on to say. He congratulated Russian paratroopers on their holiday marked on August 2.

About 9,000 veterans of the Russian airborne troops celebrated their holiday in Moscow on Saturday. About 4,000 policemen who guarded law and order during the celebration reported no serious incidents.

More than 800 people marked the Russian Airborne Troops Day in St.
Petersburg. A monument to Vasily Margelov, the number one paratrooper and the legendary commander of the Soviet airborne troops in 1954-1979. The soviet airborne troops saw the peak of their development under his command.

Airborne troops veterans also laid flowers to a memorial plaque to
Gleb Kotelnikov, the inventor of a backpack parachute, and the graves of their fallen comrades. A rally was held near a monument to soldiers who died performing their internationalist duty.
At noon, friends and brother-soldiers met on the Palace Square in St. Petersburg. After a rally, they marched to the eternal fire burning on the Field of Mars and observed a minute of silence for their fallen friends.