Russians say 270,000 refugees in Syria return

The Russian military says nearly 270,000 Syrian refugees have returned home in recent months.

Syrian refugees at the UNHCR Registration centre in Gegeliya , near the Serbian border with Macedonia.

Colonel General Mikhail Mizintsev of the Russian defense ministry told reporters yesterday nearly 6,000 people returned to Syria in the last week alone, according to data collected by Russia. He says they are seeing large flows of refugees returning home.

Moscow and the government in Damascus have been encouraging refugees to repatriate, arguing the violence has subsided. Russia launched military operations to help President Bashar Assad in 2015, changing the tide of the war in his favour.