Senior Russian lawmaker says plane crashes account for about half of Russia's loss of servicemen
Russia has lost 112 servicemen during its three-year operation in Syria, a senior lawmaker said late Sunday in a news conference.
"As of today, the losses of our armed forces in Syria stand at 112 people, with the crashes of An-26 and Il-20 accounting for about a half of them," Viktor Bondarev, chairman of the defense and security committee of Federation Council, upper house of the Russian parliament, and former commander of Russia’s aerospace forces, told journalists in Moscow.
"Material losses include eight planes, seven helicopters and, probably, one or two armored personnel carriers and armored motorcars," he added, according to TASS news agency.
On March 6, a Russian An-26 military transport plane crashed in Syria killing all 39 people on board.
On Sept. 18, Russia said one of its Il-20 military aircraft, with 15 servicemen aboard, was downed accidentally by Syria’s Russian-made S-200 air-defense system.
