The Lao Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation started working last week to remove unexploded ordnances in Nakay District, Khammouane Province.
The clearance operation is part of larger cooperation efforts between the two nations that will also include providing training to Lao personnel on the safe removal of explosives.
The operation was attended by Lieutenant General Chanthong Sonthaat, Deputy Minister of Public Security, and Mr. Keooudone Boutsingkhon, Deputy Governor of Khammouan Province, as well as the Russian Head of Department of Military Engineering, Col. Sergei Abramov.
Ms. Buaka Keomany, the Governor of Nakai District, allotted four plots of land spread over an area of 56.3 hectares for the survey and clearance of explosives.
The Ministry of Public Security had earlier cooperated with the Ministry of National Defense of Russia to remove unexploded explosives from 2018 to 2019 in Xieng Khouang Province and from 2019 to 2021 in Khammouane Province, according to Lao people’s Army News.
In 2021, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation also dispatched experts to train 99 members of the Lao People’s Army to support the clearance of UXOs.
