Reuters, Moscow :Russia will complete the withdrawal of most of its military contingent in Syria in two to three days, Russian Air Force Commander Viktor Bondarev said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily published yesterday.The commander of the Russian Air Force says the withdrawal of the bulk of the Russian forces from Syria should be complete in two to three days.Col.-Gen. Viktor Bondarev said in an interview with the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily on Thursday that the Air Force aims to meet President Vladimir Putin’s deadline and pull out in the next two to three days.Putin on Monday announced the withdrawal of most of the Russian forces from Syria to end a five-and-a-half-month campaign there. The first group of bombers left for Russia on Tuesday. Moscow didn’t specify how many aircraft and troops would be withdrawn. It has not revealed how many soldiers it has deployed to Syria, but U.S. estimates of the number of Russian military personnel vary from 3,000 to 6,000Meanwhile, the US military said Wednesday it has seen no significant reduction in Russia’s combat power in Syria despite President Putin’s surprise announcement this week of a partial withdrawal of his country’s forces.Colonel Steve Warren, a US military spokesman in the region, said Russian intentions remain unclear.”We have not seen a significant reduction, frankly, in their combat power. Particularly the ground combat power remain static, the air combat power has been slightly reduced, but that’s it,” he said.Warren said there were some indications of small units packing up, and eight to 10 Russian aircraft have left the country.Putin on Monday ordered the Russian defense ministry to begin the withdrawal of the “main part” of its military contingent in Syria.The first warplanes arrived back in Russia on Tuesday to a hero’s welcome.But Warren said the US military remains uncertain about Moscow’s plans.”There is a long list of possibilities and rather than getting into each one of them, we’re going to continue to focus on fighting ISIL,” he said, using an acronym for Islamic State, the extremist group that controls large parts of Syria and Iraq.The White House, however, said Tuesday that Moscow appeared to be moving forward on its commitment to withdraw forces and US Secretary of State John Kerry said he will travel to Russia next week for a meeting with Putin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
