YEREVAN/March 7 (The Bulletin) — Armenia suffered its first casualty of is engagement in Syria when a landmine exploded and seriously injured a deminer’s leg. The deminer had to have his foot amputated.
The detachment of 83 personnel — deminers and medics — are supporting Russian reconstruction efforts in Aleppo, once home to an ethnic Armenian diaspora estimated at around 100,000 people.
The US has warned Armenia not to support Russian military efforts in the region but Armenia’s new PM, Nikol Pashinyan has been keen to win favour with Russian President Vladimir Putin since he came to power in May last year through a revolution.
Wary of upsetting the US, Armenia is the only former Soviet country supporting Russia’s reconstruction efforts.
ENDS
— This story was first published in issue 403 of the weekly Bulletin