More than a hundred reconnaissance troopers of a special operations brigade of the Western Military District (ZVO) have fulfilled one of the most difficult and dangerous airborne training tasks: they parachuted into the water at drills in the Pskov region, the Western Military District (ZVO) said.

Russian special forces (Picture source: Russian MoD)

"The paratroopers parachuted from Mil Mi-8AMTSH army aviation helicopters. Almost half of the paratroopers jumped into the water for the first time. Only servicemen with a vast parachute jumping experience are allowed to perform this kind of jump. The formations and military units are equipped with special-purpose rescue means, which help to avert traumas and death among the personnel during water jumps. Rescue teams are on duty at the water landing sites," ZVO said.

ZVO reconnaissance troopers use various types of parachute systems, which enable them to fulfill a great variety of tasks. A parachute training program includes jumps with landing on limited space; jumps in difficult weather conditions and in the dark hours; jumps with landing on water reservoirs and jumps with delayed opening of the main parachute.