DUSHANBE, April 13, 2015, Asia-Plus – Russian media outlets report 85 Russian paratroopers together with 15 servicemen from Tajikistan and Belarus landed on a drifting ice floe near the North Pole on April 7 as part of drills on carrying out search-and-rescue operations.
The Russian Defense Ministry said the troops set up a camp the landing that featured heavy transport planes dropping cargo containers.
A brief note released by the Russian Ministry of Defense on April 7 reports that 85 Russian paratroopers and 15 servicemen from Belarus and Tajikistan, members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), have successfully landed on a drifting ice floe at 89 North.
They reportedly deployed a mobile signal communications center on the site. The operation has been described as part of a series of survival exercises in the Arctic conducted by Russia.
Russian Airborne Forces chief, Colonel-General Vladimir Shamanov, said in remarks carried by TASS news agency on April 7 that the troops will spend a week on ice, training for search and rescue missions and performing other tasks.
The paratroopers made parachute jumping from An-74 airplanes and landed near the Kupol polar station on drifting ice in the exact vicinity of the North Pole, Shamanov was quoted as saying by TASS.
“This is the first-ever international humanitarian search and rescue expedition to the North Pole made by airborne troops of the Collective Security Treaty Organization,” Russian Airborne Forces chief underscored.
