The Russian military said on April 21 that it had completed the demining of the ancient part of the Syrian city of Palmyra, recaptured by Russia-backed Syrian government forces in March from Islamic State militants.
"As of today, the task of demining the architectural and historical part of Palmyra has been fully completed," Yuri Stavitski, the commander of Russia's military engineers, told President Vladimir Putin via video link from Palmyra.
He said Russian troops would continue demining Palmyra's residential area.
Syrian troops with the support of Russian air strikes regained control of Palmyra from the IS group in late March.
IS militants blew up some of the archaeological site's most prominent monuments and executed a well-known archaeological expert who defended the site on the ruins after it seized control of the city last year.
