Kremlin: war in Ukraine did not impact number of Russian troops and weapons in Syria
Moscow has not reduced the number of troops in Syria because of the war in Ukraine, said the special representative of the Russian president for Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev .
"No, it did not decrease," Lavrentyev said in an interview with RIA Novosti, speaking about the number of Russian troops. “If someone thinks that there has been some decrease in the number of troops, I want to assure you that this is not the case both in terms of the number of equipment that is stationed there, air defense, and electronic warfare systems. Naturally, there have been no changes to the aviation component too."
According to Lavrentyev , any changes in the number of Russian servicemen in Syria are due to "personnel rotation".
In early March, and then in May, reports appeared that Russia began transferring its troops from Syria to Ukraine.