Russia withdraws its remaining personnel from Syria

[pampango]

6. "Today, the Russian defence ministry does not have a single person in Syria," he said.

He described Tartus as a "technical facility for maintaining ships sailing in the Mediterranean."

But Vedomosti said the decision to remove defence ministry personnel did not include technical experts employed by the Syrian government to train its army to use Russian-issued weapons.

Russia Today, the Kremlin's English-language propaganda channel, said: "The withdrawal was prompted not only by the increased risks caused by the ongoing military conflict, but also by the fact that in the current conditions any incident involving Russian servicemen would likely have some unfavourable reaction from the international community."

Bogdanov said that about 30,000 Russians live throughout the country, some in rebel-held areas.

This withdrawal may not mean much in terms of the outcome of the civil war but it probably does not make Assad any happier.