Defeating IS, Russia plans to withdraw troops from Syria

Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Defense Committee Yury Shvytkin does not rule out that the main stage of Russian troop withdrawal from Syria will soon begin.

Russian troops in Syria.

Earlier, Colonel General Sergei Rudskoy, commander of the General Staff's Main Operations Directorate, announced that the Russian Armed Forces had completed the task of destroying IS in Syria. On December 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared IS's complete defeat on both banks of the Euphrates River in Syria.

"I do not exclude that the main stage of the withdrawal of units will begin in the near future," Shvytkin told Sputnik in response to a question about when the withdrawal of Russian military units from Syria will begin.

According to Sputnik