Projects
Government Bodies
Flag Friday, 29 March 2024
All news
All news
Society
19 December 2018, 12:42

Dedicated mine clearance service now part of Belarusian army

MINSK, 19 December (BelTA) – A dedicated mine clearance unit has been created in the Belarusian army, BelTA learned from Chief of the Engineer Corps, Chief of the Engineer Corps Office of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Belarus, Colonel Andrei Kurakov.

According to the source, a countermine service has been created as part of the staff of the 2nd brigade of the Engineer Corps of the Belarusian army. The unit is tasked with training army personnel to operate in a war heavily reliant on mines. Belarusian army personnel are trained to clear mines, deal with explosive objects, and plant explosives for demolishing complicated buildings and structures. As many as 14 specialized classrooms are now available. Belarusian army specialists are trained to handle all kinds of explosive hazards ranging from improvised explosive devices (IED) to booby traps disguised and children's toys.

Units of the Belarusian army, the Alpha team of the State Security Committee, the Almaz team of the Internal Affairs Ministry, and the Belarus President Security Service have already taken courses in the new facility. Mobile mine clearance teams of the Western Operational Command are now being trained. Other units of the Belarusian army will be trained later on. The troops are primarily trained to deal with IEDs and use trained dogs to find mines.

Officers and NCOs with a lot of experience in finding and neutralizing explosive hazards work as instructors in the new facility. They have been trained in an international countermine center in Russia. “They've learned from experience of Russian colleagues, who were directly involved in finding and neutralizing explosive hazards in various parts of the world, including in Syria,” said Andrei Kurakov.

In addition to offering training services specialists of the mine clearance service take orders for neutralizing explosive hazards in various parts of the country. In 2018 thirty mine clearance squads of the Belarusian army detected and neutralized over 23,500 explosive objects in 118 districts of Belarus. “We have rather good physical infrastructure. I hope it will serve as a good foundation for setting up a countermine center of the Armed Forces in the future. We have plans to do it in 2019. The matter is being agreed with the Security Council now,” concluded Andrei Kurakov.

Subscribe to us
Twitter
Recent news from Belarus