First Russian planes leave Syria after order to pull out, Moscow says

The morning after Vladimir Putin ordered the surprise withdrawal of Moscow’s military contingent in Syria, Russia’s defence ministry said a first group of planes had left the Hmeymim airbase near Latakia.

Putin’s announcement that Russia’s objectives had been “generally accomplished” after five and a half months of bombing raids came in a televised meeting on Monday evening with his defence and foreign ministers. He ordered the former, Sergei Shoigu, to begin a withdrawal, and the latter, Sergei Lavrov, to work on intensifying diplomatic efforts to bring about peace.

In a series of tweets on Tuesday morning, the Russian defence ministry said aircraft would be relocated from the Hmeymim airbase in Syria to their home bases in Russia. State television showed footage of soldiers loading an Ilyushin-76 transport plane with equipment to be returned to Russia. An unspecified number of Su-34 fighter jets were among the first group to leave. “Personnel are loading equipment, logistics items and inventory into transport aviation aircraft,” the defence ministry wrote, adding that Shoigu had ordered the “main part” of the contingent in Syria to be redeployed.

The first planes from Latakia landed at an airbase near Voronezh on Tuesday afternoon. Returning pilots were tossed in the air by celebrating crowds of comrades, with television crews on hand to capture the scenes and broadcast them to Russian homes as a sign of the mission’s success.

“We will carry out any command of our commander-in-chief at any point on the planet,” one unnamed pilot said on his return.

While state television covered the withdrawal with fanfare, the deputy defence minister suggested the bombing campaign was not over. At a ceremony to mark the withdrawal, Nikolai Pankov said the Russian planes remaining in Syria would continue to carry out missions.

“Certain positive results have been achieved. A real chance has emerged to put an end to this long-running standoff,” Pankov said, according to RIA Novosti. “But it is still early to talk about victory over terrorism. The Russian aviation group has the task to continue carrying out strikes on terrorist facilities.”