Palmyra Can Be Restored Within Year With Funding – Chechnya Leader

The ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, recently liberated from terrorists by the government forces, could be restored in a year if enough funding is provided, the acting leader of Russia's Chechen Republic told Sputnik in an interview.

GROZNY (Sputnik) — Syrian armed forces recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from Daesh last week with air support of the Russian Aerospace Forces. During their 10-month control of the city, terrorists destroyed multiple ancient treasures and booby-trapped the ruins.

"If there is funding, the proper organization, responsible people, then it [Palmyra] will be restored in a year," Ramzan Kadyrov said.

He added that a decision to rebuild the ancient ruins can be taken only by the Syrian people, after which the international community would contribute in the reconstruction.

On Sunday, Russian field engineers reached the outskirts of Syria’s ancient city Palmyra for a mine-clearing mission.

The Russian bomb squad set up a field camp near Palmyra late Saturday after travelling almost 200 miles from Russia’s Hmeymim airbase in Latakia with a convoy of 20 vehicles guarded by Russian attack helicopters.