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3 Apr, 2020 11:56

Help is here: Russian military medics arrive in Serbia to assist in Covid-19 battle

Help is here: Russian military medics arrive in Serbia to assist in Covid-19 battle

After providing coronavirus aid to Italy and the US, Russia has sent its military medics to Serbia. The first plane with virologists and equipment has already landed near Belgrade, with 10 more flights to come.

Eight teams of doctors and nurses with state-of-the-art equipment as well as a unit of nuclear, biological and chemical protection (NBC) troops to carry out disinfection have been assigned by the Defense Ministry for the mission.

The first Il-76 cargo plane took off from the Chkalovsky airfield outside Moscow and landed at Batajnica Airport near Belgrade.

The flight between the Russian capital and Serbia takes less than three hours, with the Russian planes expected to make 10 trips – four more on Friday and six on Saturday – to deliver all of the intended cargo. Besides the 87 servicemen, they’ll be carrying 16 military vehicles and a batch of individual protective gear.

Also on rt.com Serbian PM: ‘Fake news’ that we don’t appreciate EU help, but Covid-19 aid came from China

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic had asked his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, for aid in tackling Covid-19 in late March, with his request now being fulfilled.

Serbia has so far registered 1,171 coronavirus cases, with 31 fatalities, and the country’s authorities are trying hard to prevent the epidemic from growing further and taking more lives.

Also on rt.com WATCH Russian biodefense troops disinfect nursing home in coronavirus-hit Italy

Moscow earlier deployed eight medical brigades to Italy, who are now fighting the disease in the city of Bergamo, the epicenter of the outbreak in the country. A few days ago, a Russian military plane with essential supplies needed to tackle the coronavirus landed in the US where more than 6,000 have died so far after Donald Trump accepted the offer of assistance from Putin.

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