MOSCOW, April 21 (UPI) -- Russia is sending servicemen and helicopters to Sudan to participate in a United Nations peacekeeping mission there.
Itar-Tass news agency reported that the advance team of the Russian helicopter group left for Sudan on Thursday.
An Air Force spokesman said, "An Il-76 aircraft will deliver about 30 people as well as munitions and over 10 tons of outfits and property necessary for deploying the helicopter team at the place of location."
Deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force General Sergei Shevchenko said that the Russian contingent would contain up to 200 servicemen. The troops along with four MiG-8 helicopters with a full set of equipment and ammunitions and more than 100 tons of cargo are to be airlifted to Sudan via 40 Antonov-24, Antonov-22 and Ilyushin-76 military transports.
The Russians are deploying under a March 2005 U.N. Security Council resolution providing for sending 10,700 U.N. peacekeepers to Sudan. The troops will monitor the enforcement of an agreement on ending a 21-year-old civil war between Khartoum and People's Liberation Army of Sudan guerrillas.
