The Russian leader arrived at Khmeymim air base and personally charged the responsible authorities with bringing the troops back home

The Russian military contingent based in Syria is to return to the place of permanent deployment. The country’s leader Vladimir Putin gave respective order upon arriving at Khmeymim air base on Monday and meeting with his Syrian counterpart Bashaar al-Assad.

‘I hereby order the Defense Minister and Head of the General Staff to begin the withdrawal of the Russian military group to permanent bases’, Putin said in his speech that he delivered in front of the troops.

According to him, ‘the Russian military returns home victoriously’.

The UN reports that over 450 thousand people lost their lives in Syria since the conflict began in 2011. Millions of the country's residents have become refugees.

Russia's military campaign in Syria has been running since September 2015, when the contingent of Russian Air Force and Navy was sent to assist the Syrian government army, as it fought the armed opposition and ISIS militants.