Russia denied a report in daily newspaper Kommersant that seven Russian planes had been destroyed by rebel shelling at Syria's Hmeymim airbase on Dec. 31, the TASS news agency quoted Thursday the defense ministry as saying.
“Kommersant’s report on the alleged ‘destruction’ of seven Russian military aircraft at Khmeimim Airbase is fake,” the ministry said in a statement according to Russia Today website.
The ministry also said two Russian service personnel were killed in a mortar attack on the base by rebels, according to TASS.
According to the Russian defense ministry and official statements, TASS calculated that 41 Russian servicemen were killed during the Syrian operation, which was launched on Sept. 30, 2015 at the request of the Syrian government.