RUSSIAN DETACHMENT OF HUMANITARIAN MINE-CLEARING FLEW TO KOSOVO








MOSCOW, MARCH 1, 2001 (FROM A RIA NOVOSTI CORRESPONDENT) -- The detachment of humanitarian mine-clearing of the Russian emergencies ministry (MChS) flew to Kosovo.


	It includes 24 field engineers and 8 dogs specially trained to search for mines.


	The Russian specialists will work in Kosovo on the instruction of the UN anti-mine centre. The MChS field engineers have already determined the first zone of responsibility in the vicinity of the Vitin populated locality, eastern Kosovo. Then the MChS staffers will have to work in the German sector, on the border with Albania. The detachment is expected to stay in Kosovo for six months.


	The MChs field commanders were baptized of fire back in 1999. At that time they rendered harmless more than 2,000 explosive objects. Last year, 22 MChS field engineers checked 36 mine fields with an area of more than 155,000 sq metres, rendering harmless almost 2,000 mines of various designation and calibre. That was an absolute record among 16 field engineer units of various countries which participated in mine-clearing of Kosovo within the UN programme.