11/01/2010

Condition of Russian Airborne Force commander improves in hospital


Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, left, greets Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov, the commander of the Russian Airborne Forces in the military hospital in Moscow, Russia, late Saturday, Oct. 30, 2010. Shamanov was involved in a serious car accident on Saturday. (Getty Images / AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Alexei Druzhinin, Pool)

Putin visits General Shamanov, Commander of Russian Airborne Forces in hospital: http://wp.me/pYE9h-2Z5


MOSCOW, October 31 (KATAKAMI / Itar-Tass) -- The condition of Russian Airborne Force Commander Lt. Gen. Vladimir Shamanov, who was injured in a road accident and taken to the Burdenko Central Military Hospital, has improved a bit, hospital deputy head Col. Konstantin Panyushin said.

“Gen. Shamanov is being prepared for a surgery. A medical panel will schedule the surgery on Monday,” he said.

The general has fractures of an arm and the left thighbone.

Federation Council Chairman Sergei Mironov visited Shamanov at hospital and wished him the soonest recovery.

Meanwhile, acting commander of the 106th airborne division Col. Alexei Naumets, who was injured in a road accident in Tula together with Shamanov, has been taken to the Burdenko Central Military Hospital in Moscow, Airborne Force spokesman Col. Alexander Cherednik told Itar-Tass.

Naumets was initially taken to the intensive care unit of the Tula branch of the Burdenko hospital on Saturday.

Panyushin said that Naumets was in a serious condition: he had broken ribs, cerebral concussion, chest contusion, a fracture of the right thighbone, and a fracture of both shinbones.

(MS)