President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Shoigu, I know that the operation to liberate Aleppo, this city of crucial importance for Syria, has ended. What is the situation now?
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu: The operation to liberate Aleppo was conducted in two stages.
The first stage was to liberate 115 districts, close to 82,000 square kilometres. Over this time, 7 humanitarian corridors were opened, enabling close to 110,000 people to leave the city, and 9,000 fighters laid down their arms. Most of them were amnestied in accordance with President Assad’s decision.
The second stage unfolded in the southern part of east Aleppo. This involved imposing a ceasefire since December 15 in order to carry out a massive humanitarian operation that s