Russia airlifts aid to Afghanistan

By Vladimir Radyuhin

MOSCOW, OCT. 1. Russia has launched a large-scale relief operation in Afghanistan, the Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The first plane carrying 30 tonnes of relief supplies left Moscow on Monday for Dushanbe, Tajikistan, where it will be shipped by road to Afghanistan, the report said.

The Russian President, Mr. Vladimir Putin, today appointed the Emergencies Situations Minister, Mr. Sergei Shoigu, in charge of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan in a sign that the Kremlin attaches top priority to the operation.

``Humanitarian situation in Afghanistan is getting extremely serious and we cannot sit on the fence,'' Mr. Putin said at a Cabinet meeting on Monday.

A delegation of the Emergencies Ministry is already in Tajikistan to specify aid requirements and transportation channels. It is expected that Russian relief aid will be channelled along the routes established for supplying Russian weapons to the anti- Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

Moscow fears that a massive influx of refugees from Afghanistan could destabilise the political and social situation and provoke an Islamic backlash in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia.

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Section  : International
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