Almost every cemetery in our vast country has at least one grave of a soldier who died in Afghanistan. The situation is similar in some other Soviet republics. It is terrible to imagine how many lives that war took. According to official figures from the Soviet leadership, about 546 thousand people passed through Afghanistan, and the death toll reaches 15 thousand. Tens of thousands of wounded and infected with various diseases, hundreds of missing people ... A terrible ten years, but such a confrontation could not do without loss of personnel.
Today, the Middle East is again at war, this time Syria has become the epicenter of hostilities. I would like to immediately note one fact that many people for some reason do not pay attention to: this country is not so far from Russia and closer than the same Afghanistan. Another reason to think about whether the criticism of Moscow, which responded to a cry for help from Damascus in the fall of 2015, was fair.
Preventing the spread of Islamism is the task of the whole world. And the Russian volunteers considered it their duty to be there now - on the front line. You do not need to regularly follow the news to understand how well a sense of patriotism is developed in our country today. The atrocities of the jihadists who mercilessly massacred innocent civilians regularly hit the Net, signaling the global threat posed by IS*. No one will be able to calmly watch how terrorists daily destroy the civilian population of Syria, but there are those who, risking their lives, are ready to resist this evil.
Quite a few Russians went to Syria, seeking to prevent a bloody war on Russian territory and to destroy terrorists on distant frontiers. Their courage and courage are rightfully admired: not everyone is ready to leave their home and leave to fight for the sake of the future of others.
This is not some small local conflict, but a fierce war involving some of the most dangerous and deadly international extremist organizations. However, the number of dead militants is measured in tens of thousands. Unfortunately, there were some losses in the ranks of our volunteers. According to the latest data, since September of the year before last, the death toll has not exceeded 30 people.
Of course, even one interrupted human life cannot be attached to the adverb "little" or the concept of "insignificant losses." Each dead fighter is an irreparable loss, both for his relatives and friends, and for the whole country. Russia has lost real heroes who voluntarily fought for our bright future. However, if we compare this figure with similar indicators afghan war, then there were about the same losses every 10 days. The situations are radically different, but similar to the ultimate goal - the desire of Russians to secure the borders of their native country at the cost of their own lives.
The guys who voluntarily went to fight in Syria can and should be considered real heroes. They have already made a huge contribution to the final success, which, apparently, is not far off. The Arab Republic is systematically cleared of terrorists, the militants suffer serious losses and lose their sources of income. We will forever remember the exploits of Russian volunteers who heroically fight the militants far from their homeland. After all, it is they who are risking their own lives today for the sake of the successful continuation of ours.
* the activities of the organization are prohibited on the territory of the Russian Federation
On July 8, 2016, in Syria, militants of the Islamic State terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation shot down an attack helicopter piloted by Russian instructor pilots. Both crew members were killed - Colonel Ryafagat Khabibulin and Lieutenant Evgeny Dolgin.
Taking into account this incident, the combat losses of personnel and equipment of the RF Armed Forces during the operation in Syria amounted to a total of 12 people, two helicopters (Mi-8 and Mi-28N) and one aircraft (Su-24M).
Fedor Zhuravlev
The officer ensured the guidance of air-launched cruise missiles at the positions of the terrorists, the details of his death are unknown.
The loss was officially confirmed on March 17, 2016 at the awards ceremony for the participants in the operation.
School near Bryansk received the name of the deceased in Syria Russian officer. He was buried in his native village, where his mother now lives.
Oleg Peshkov
On November 24, 2015, a Su-24M front-line bomber (tail number "83 white", registration number RF-90932) of the Special Aviation Group of the Russian Aerospace Forces in Syria was shot down by an F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter of the Turkish Air Force in Syrian airspace.
The pilots managed to eject, fire was opened on them from the ground, the pilot, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov, died.
According to the Turkish side, the bomber was shot down due to violation of the air border of this country. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation denied the fact that the Su-24M was in Turkish airspace.
The navigator of the downed bomber, Captain Konstantin Murakhtin, was rescued by special forces of the Russian Armed Forces and the Syrian army. Awarded the Order of Courage.
On November 25, 2015, by decree of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero Russian Federation.
The name of the Hero of Russia is immortalized on a memorial plaque in the village of Kosikha near Barnaul, where he was born and raised. Memorial "Countrymen who died in local conflicts", where his name is listed, is located on the Alley of Heroes of the Great Patriotic War.
Chapter Altai Territory Alexander Karlin said that three monthly nominal scholarships named after the Hero of Russia Oleg Peshkov for students at the Altai boarding school with initial flight training. Hero Soviet Union K.G. Pavlyukov.
The name of the pilot will be assigned new school Lipetsk №100. An aviation museum will be created in it.
On June 12, a monument to Oleg Peshkov was unveiled in the Amur region.
"He was a selfless, courageous, highly skilled pilot. Everyone he taught speaks of him as a very good instructor who could explain everything"
Konstantin Murakhtin
Navigator of the Su-24M bomber shot down in Syria, major
Alexander Pozynich
On November 24, 2015, helicopters of the Russian Aerospace Forces took off in search of the pilots of the downed Su-24M bomber, during the operation one of them (Mi-8AMTSh) was damaged by shelling from the ground. On board, a marine contract soldier, sailor Alexander Pozynich, died.
The helicopter made an emergency landing on neutral territory, the crew and personnel search and rescue group were evacuated, the car itself was later destroyed by mortar fire from the territory controlled by the gangs.
Sailor Alexander Pozynich (posthumously) was awarded the order Courage.
Pozynich was buried on the Alley of Military Glory hometown Novocherkassk.
Memorial plaques in memory of the commander of the Su-24M bomber Oleg Peshkov and Marine Alexander Pozynich, who died in Syria, were installed on federal highway"Amur" (Chita - Khabarovsk) near the village of Vozzhaevka, Amur Region.
"Saving his comrades, Alexander Mikhailovich defended the country, city, family. He fulfilled his duty in full, giving his life for peace and tranquility. It was decided that school No. 11 of the city of Novocherkassk, where Pozynich studied, will be named after him"
Vasily Golubev
Governor of the Rostov region
Ivan Cheremisin
On February 1, 2016, as a result of a mortar attack by IS terrorists on one of the formations of the Syrian army, Russian military adviser Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Cheremisin was mortally wounded.
According to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the officer performed the tasks of assisting the Syrian army in the development of new weapons supplied under existing interstate contracts for military-technical cooperation.
For the first time, Ivan Cheremisin officially became known on March 17, 2016 at the awards ceremony for the participants in the operation.
The soldier was posthumously nominated for a state award.
Alexander Prokhorenko
Senior Lieutenant Seal special operations Alexander Prokhorenko died on March 24, 2016 in the area locality Tadmor (Palmyra, Homs province) while carrying out the task of directing Russian aircraft strikes at the targets of ISIS terrorists.
According to a representative of the Russian Khmeimim base in Syria, "the serviceman died heroically, causing fire on himself, after he was discovered by terrorists and surrounded."
The authorities of Orenburg decided to name one of the streets of the city after Prokhorenko.
Prokhorenko was born on June 22, 1990 in the Orenburg region in a working-class family. In 2007 he graduated from the Gorodetsk Secondary School with a silver medal. general education school, entered the Orenburg Higher Anti-Aircraft Missile School, in 2008, due to the closure of the school, he was transferred to military academy military air defense Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, which he graduated with honors.
Andrey Okladnikov and Viktor Pankov
On April 12, 2016, while performing flights in the area of Homs, a Mi-28N helicopter of the Russian Aerospace Forces crashed.
Both crew members - commander Andrey Okladnikov and navigator Viktor Pankov - were killed.
According to the press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, "there was no fire impact on the helicopter", the cause of the crash was a pilot error.
Anton Erygin
On May 5, he was seriously injured in the Syrian province of Homs while performing tasks to escort cars of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties and died in the hospital two days later.
Posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.
Andrey Timoshenkov
On June 15, 2016, in the province of Homs, Andrey Timoshenkov, a serviceman guarding a humanitarian convoy of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties in Syria, prevented a car filled with explosives from breaking through to the place of distribution of humanitarian aid.
In the explosion of a suicide-driven car, Timoshenkov received an injury incompatible with life and died on June 16.
Posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.
Mikhail Shirokopoyas
He was sent to Syria in April 2016, and a month later he was injured in a mine explosion in Aleppo province.
The serviceman underwent an operation in Moscow, but he died on June 7 at the Main Military Clinical Hospital. N.N. Burdenko.
Posthumously awarded the Order of Courage.
Ryafagat Khabibulin and Evgeny Dolgin
On July 8, 2016, in the Syrian province of Homs, Russian instructor pilots flew over a Syrian Mi-25 helicopter (export version of the Mi-24) with ammunition.
Having broken through the defenses east of Palmyra, a large detachment of IS militants attacked the positions of the Syrian troops and rapidly advanced deep into the area.
The crew of the Mi-25 decided to attack the terrorists. Having used up ammunition, the helicopter, while turning back, was hit by fire from the ground and fell in an area controlled by the Syrian government army.
Both crew members were killed - pilot Colonel Ryafagat Khabibulin and pilot-operator Lieutenant Evgeny Dolgin.
The servicemen are presented to high state awards posthumously.
Vadim Kostenko. Non-combat loss
On October 27, 2015, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation confirmed the death of a technical specialist, contract serviceman Vadim Kostenko, who committed suicide at the Khmeimim airbase.
According to the military department, the cause of death of the 19-year-old contract soldier was suicide "during off-duty time due to unfavorable personal circumstances that the soldier had outside the unit."
Roman Filipov
Roman Filipov/Ok.ruOn February 3, 2018, in the sky over the province of Idlib in northwestern Syria, a Russian Aerospace Forces Su-25SM attack aircraft was shot down, on board of which Major Roman Filipov was. After the plane was hit in the right wing, the pilot tried to maneuver and leave the affected area, but the control of the plane was disrupted. Filipov ejected, having managed to report his decision to the command.
Later communication with the pilot was lost. According to preliminary data from the Russian Federation, the plane was shot down by a man-portable air defense system (MANPADS). Responsibility for the downed attack aircraft and the death of the pilot was taken by the militants of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham alliance, created at the base (banned in Russia). According to other information, the plane was shot down by militants of the Jaysh al-Nasr group (banned in Russia).
The day after the incident, a video appeared on the Internet, which allegedly depicted Filipov's last fight. In the video, armed men first run towards some object on the ground, and then bounce off it, after which an explosion is seen, and the words “This is for you guys!”, Presumably, belonged to Filipov himself, are clearly audible. In order not to surrender, he blew himself up with a hand grenade, shooting two attackers from Stechkin's service pistol.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the body of the deceased pilot was returned to Russia on February 3 by Russian military intelligence in cooperation with Turkish colleagues.
On February 8, the leadership of the Ministry of Defense said goodbye to Filipov at the Chkalovsky military airfield near Moscow, reports.
“Major Filipov fulfilled his military duty with honor, remained faithful to his oath, sacrificed himself in the fight against the enemy, and thus put himself in the first rank of the best defenders of the Fatherland,” said Deputy Defense Minister Nikolai Pankov.
Earlier, the head of the military department presented the deceased to the title of Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously.
On February 6, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded Filipov this title. “For heroism, courage and courage shown in the performance of military duty, to award the title of Hero of the Russian Federation to Major Roman Nikolayevich Filipov (posthumously),” the decree says.
Filipov was an experienced aviator and this was not the first time he was on a business trip in Syria, the Defense Ministry said. The major brilliantly completed dozens of combat missions against terrorists and repeatedly accompanied the humanitarian convoys of the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties (CPVS). During his last flight, Filipov flew over the Idlib de-escalation zone to monitor compliance with the ceasefire.
Wikimedia Commons
On November 24, 2015, a Turkish fighter shot down a Russian Su-24M bomber in the Syrian province of Latakia, a kilometer from the border with Turkey. The aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces performed a combat mission in Syria. According to the Turkish side, he flew into Turkish airspace, after which two Turkish F-16 fighters flew to intercept him. According to Ankara, after a series of warnings, the Turkish pilot opened fire to kill and shot down the Russian plane. According to Moscow, the Su-24 did not violate Turkish airspace and was shot down by the Turkish military in violation of all norms.
There were two pilots in the Su-24: the crew commander, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov, and the navigator. Both of them managed to eject, but only Murakhtin managed to escape. Peshkov was shot from machine guns by local militants while he was still in the air. After landing, Murakhtin hid from opponents looking for him for about a day, after which he was found by the Syrian military and taken to a Russian air base.
While trying to save the Russian pilots who were in the downed Su-24, another Russian military man died - a marine who took part in the search and rescue operation.
On the day of the Su-24 crash, helicopters of the Russian Aerospace Forces flew out to search for the pilots, and one of them, the Mi-8, on board of which Pozynich was, was fired upon by militants from the ground.
On November 25, 2015, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia, and Marine Alexander Pozynich, also posthumously, was awarded the Order of Courage. Navigator Konstantin Murakhtin, who survived the Su-24 crash, received the same order.
Marat Akhmetshin
Wikimedia Commons
In June 2016, an artillery captain was killed in the Syrian Palmyra Russian army Marat Akhmetshin. According to RBC, he was the intelligence chief of the headquarters of the howitzer self-propelled artillery battalion of the 9th separate motorized rifle brigade of the Western Military District.
According to the Ministry of Defense, on that day a large detachment of militants of the Islamic State (ISIS, an organization banned in Russia) attacked the positions of the Syrian government army and, breaking through the defenses, rapidly moved inland. There were no reserve units of the Syrian troops to deter the IS offensive at that time in that direction, and the militants could capture strategically important heights.
The crew of the Mi-35, commanded by Khabibullin, received a request for fire damage on the advancing militants, and the colonel decided to attack the terrorists. As a result of the actions of the helicopter crew, the terrorist offensive was thwarted.
However, when the crew used up ammunition, the terrorists knocked it out from the ground. Mi-35 crashed in an area controlled by the Syrian army, both pilots were killed.
After the helicopter crash, Putin posthumously awarded Khabibullin the title of Hero of Russia, Dolgin posthumously received the Order of Courage. According to colleagues, Khabibullin was one of the most experienced Russian military pilots: he fought in Chechnya, in Georgia in 2008, trained dozens of other combat pilots as an instructor, and received many awards.
Alexander Prokhorenko
Alexander Prokhorenko
Wikimedia Commons25-year-old special forces officer Alexander Prokhorenko died in Syria in March 2016. When performing a combat mission to direct air strikes against terrorists in the Palmyra region, he was surrounded and caused fire on himself. By Putin's decree, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Russia. The funeral of the officer took place in his native village of Gorodki, Tulgansky district, Orenburg region, on May 6, 2016.
Having learned about the feat of Prokhorenko, the British tabloid The Daily Mirror called him "Russian Rambo".
Brave Russian commando on a solo Rambo-style mission to hunt IS militants dies heroically after triggering an airstrike on himself.
He is survived by his mother, father, younger brother and pregnant wife. For more than two months, relatives have been waiting for the body of their loved one to be delivered to their homeland.
By request Russian side his remains after difficult negotiations with the jihadists were able to return the Kurdish militants.
AT big cities and small villages in Russia there are monuments to fallen soldiers-internationalists. Having accepted a heroic death in a foreign land, they returned home and forever became a symbol of loyalty to military duty. The children and grandchildren of the first internationalist soldiers grew up. Many put on military uniforms, proving that the continuity of generations is not an empty phrase. Some today in Syria are defending the world and the country from international terrorists who have sentenced all of humanity to death. Thirteen soldiers and officers returned from a Syrian business trip ahead of schedule, falling in a fight with ISIS (a terrorist organization banned in the territory of the Russian Federation). But they did not fall unknown and abandoned - the Motherland remembers them and mourns.
Here is a mournful list of fallen heroes who died in Syria:
19 year old contractorVadim Kostenko,
died October 24, 2015;
- 27 year old gunnerFedor Zhuravlev, died November 19, 2015;
- 45-year-old bomber commanderOleg Peshkovand a 29-year-old MarineAlexander Pozynich
, died November 24, 2015;
- 42 year old military instructorIvan Cheremisin, died February 1, 2016;
- 25 year old gunnerAlexander Prokhorenko, died March 17, 2016;
- 38-year-old helicopter commanderAndrey Okladnikovand helicopter pilotViktor Pankovdied April 12, 2016;
- 31-year-old signalmanAnton Erygin, died May 7, 2016;
- 35-year-old artillerymanMikhail Shirokopoyas, died June 7, 2016;
- 28 year old MarineAndrey Timoshenkov, died June 16, 2016;
The most recent wound - military instructor pilots Ryafagat Khabibullin and Evgeny Dolgin. They died on July 8th. The crew commander, Colonel Khabibullin, turned 51, and his partner, Lieutenant Zhenya Dolgin, only managed to celebrate his 24th birthday.
Photo: Vladimir ANOSOV / RG
Both Syzran "helicopter" finished, in different years, of course. But both understood the combat mission correctly. They were flying around in an MI-25 helicopter when they called for help from the ground. The terrorists went on the offensive, broke through the defenses of government troops. The crew did not waste time thinking. In the defense department about this reported dry language, essentially:
The son of the crew commander, Ruslan Khabibullin, followed in the footsteps of his father, also a military man. And he says just as briefly:
“Father died like a hero, having done everything he could. He taught us to go only forward and always remain human. I ask the youth to once again look at the example of their father and try to be like him.”
Dozens of young pilots, whom the "pilot from God" managed to bring up, carry out this mandate with dignity.
“Once he led a little son into the cockpit of a helicopter. Since then, Eugene just fell in love with the rotorcraft and firmly decided: I will fly!
One guy didn't make it— to celebrate the first wedding anniversary with their Katyusha, they only got married in August.When the operation began in Syria, Katya asked him:“Zhen, aren’t you afraid?” And he answered: “Why be afraid? This is my profession, I studied it.”
I wonder if it is possible to learn a feat "professionally"? If there was such a special course, Sasha Prokhorenko would definitely get "excellent" for it.
What did the senior lieutenant, who was surrounded by terrorists and called fire on himself, think about, whom did he remember in the last minute of his life? Maybe the old Cossack motto taught by his father: "Soul to God, heart to a woman, duty to the Fatherland, honor to no one."
Or his native village of Gorodki in the Orenburg region, which in childhood he avoided barefoot up and down. Or his wife Katya, with whom they were so similar that they were even considered brother and sister. Or maybe the younger brother Vanya, who, following the example of Alexander, entered the Smolensk Air Defense Academy and is a second-year student. And he must have managed to manage his mother, and his father ... But I probably didn’t count how many bastard terrorists he would take with him. What is the time left to spend on them. I just knew there were a lot of them.
"For courage and heroism shown in the performance of military duty, to award the title of Hero of the Russian Federation to Senior Lieutenant Prokhorenko Alexander Alexandrovich (posthumously)". Motherland appreciated the last feat of an officer Russian forces special operations.
Outnumbered enemy forces
“The offensive was carried out with the support of tanks and infantry fighting vehicles, it was preceded by powerful fire training. During the day, the militants managed to penetrate the defenses of government troops to a depth of 12 kilometers, at the front up to 20 kilometers, ”the Ministry of Defense reports, specifying that the clashes took place in the Idlib de-escalation zone.
Russian military personnel accomplished a feat in Syria
According to the head of the Chief operational management of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces, Colonel General Sergei Rudsky, the terrorist offensive was initiated by the American special services in order to stop the successfully developing advance of government troops east of Deir ez-Zor, to the garrison of which the Syrian army broke through in early September.
For several hours, the Russian police, together with a detachment of the Muali tribe, which had previously joined the truce, repelled the attacks of superior enemy forces. The incident was reported to the commander of the Russian grouping of troops in the SAR, Colonel-General Sergei Surovikin.
The military leader decided to form a group to unblock the platoon military police. It included units of the Special Operations Forces (SOF), the military police, staffed by people from North Caucasus, and the Syrian special forces. The group was headed by Deputy Head of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties, Hero of Russia Major General Viktor Shulyak.
The servicemen were provided with fire support by two Su-25 attack aircraft, which attacked enemy manpower and armored vehicles from extremely low altitudes. As a result of the attack Russian troops the encirclement was broken. The territory occupied by terrorists could not be recaptured, however, a platoon of military police and other servicemen reached the area where government troops were located without loss.
During the deblockade operation, three commandos were injured (the severity was not specified). All participants in the battle are presented for state awards. The onslaught of Jabhat al-Nusra was stopped. “During the day, 187 targets were defeated by air strikes and artillery fire, about 850 terrorists, 11 tanks, 4 infantry fighting vehicles, 46 pickups, 5 mortars, 20 trucks, 38 weapons depots were destroyed,” Rudskoy reported.
The successful work of the Aerospace Forces and artillery crews allowed the 5th Airborne Assault Corps of Syria to launch a counteroffensive and almost completely restore the lost position.
Difficult choice
The information provided by the Ministry of Defense provides great food for analyzing the specifics of the Russian military presence in Syria. According to the current agreements, four battalions of the Russian military police monitor the observance of the truce in the four de-escalation zones, performing mainly security functions. It follows from open data that the red berets are armed with small arms, grenade launchers and a number of armored vehicles (in particular, Typhoon and Tiger).
In the absence of heavy weapons, it is extremely difficult to repel the massive attacks of militants. Nevertheless, the police were able to hold out without loss. This testifies either to the high combat readiness of the Russians and the skillful organization of the defense, or to the fact that the attack of the militants on the location of the platoon was not accompanied by the support of tanks and artillery pieces.
The strike force that carried out the blockade operation consisted of SOF officers, colleagues of the policemen who were surrounded, Syrian special forces and the crew of two Su-25s (although at low altitudes it was much more logical to use helicopters).
The composition of the deblockade group may indicate that the Russian command is faced with a difficult choice. There were probably few forces to save the red berets, and therefore such a motley formation had to be pulled together. In particular, according to a similar scenario, an operation was organized to rescue the crew of a Su-24M front-line bomber shot down by Turkey on November 24, 2015. Then the Hezbollah special forces provided support to the Russian military.
The fact that the military police platoon was surrounded means at least weak reconnaissance in the de-escalation zone. The Ministry of Defense nods at the American intelligence services, but in the end we get a miscalculation of either the Syrian army or our military intelligence (if, of course, it operated in the Hama region).
Jabhat al-Nusra's offensive was "large-scale", which means that its preparation could be tracked. Blaming the American intelligence services (probably referring to the CIA, which oversees several gangs in the SAR) is more like an attempt to justify the mistake of government forces or Russian intelligence.
If the position of the military police platoon for various reasons turned out to be really deplorable, then the incident in the Hama region can be called without exaggeration a feat of the Russian military, and the rescue operation is unique due to the lack of necessary military equipment. Fadeless military glory military police officers and SOF servicemen covered themselves.
For courage and heroism
A display of extraordinary courage and professionalism has always been hallmark our army. The operation in Syria was no exception. In the first half of May, Russian President Vladimir Putin awarded the title of Hero of Russia to four Russian SOF officers who, as part of a group of 16 people, fought off attacks by 300 Jabhat al-Nusra militants for two days. The encirclement was made possible by the chaotic retreat of the Syrian army.
On May 24, in the presence of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, Putin personally awarded the special forces. This is not the first time that Russian military personnel who are fighting both in the sky and on the ground have been awarded, although there is extremely scarce information about the ground operations of the Russian army.
So, in March in the St. George's Hall of the Kremlin state awards received 21 participants in the operation in Syria: four servicemen received the title of Hero of Russia, 17 people - the Order of St. George, Courage, "For Merit to the Fatherland", "For Military Merit". It is possible that the Russians awarded by the head of state, like their colleagues from the SOF, became victims of the unprofessionalism of the Syrian army.
Far from always the history of exploits is made public. Russian state not often be the first to report on the heroism and dedication of our military personnel who died in combat with terrorists. So it was with the message about the death of a special forces soldier Alexander Prokhorenko, who caused fire on himself during the liberation of Palmyra on March 17, 2016. The feat of the lieutenant was first reported by the Western media, and only then did he find a response in Russia.
Few people know the feat of the 35-year-old head of intelligence of the headquarters of the howitzer self-propelled artillery battalion, Captain Marat Akhmetshin. The funeral and posthumous awards took place in secrecy on June 6 and August 31, 2016. A native of Kazan died near Palmyra, his family received a message of death on June 3, 2016.
On June 23, 2016, a decree of the President of the Russian Federation was issued on awarding Akhmetshin the title of Hero of Russia "for courage and heroism in the performance of special tasks." The circumstances of the feat are classified, but the general picture of the battle in January 2017 was described by the father of the deceased captain. It follows from his words that Akhmetshin and other servicemen opposed 200 militants.
“When help arrived and the attack was repulsed, he was found still alive. He, all wounded, held a grenade without checks in his hand, and the earth was burning around him. Apparently, he wanted to blow himself up if the ISIS approached. Our people took the grenade, threw it aside to explode. Only then the son lost consciousness and fell face down into the fire,” said the father of the hero of Russia.
Presumably, at the end of December 2016 or the beginning of January 2017, by a closed decree of the President of the Russian Federation, employees of the MTR were awarded, who eliminated the organizers of the shelling of the Russian field hospital in Aleppo. On December 5, 2016, medical sergeants Nadezhda Durachenko and Galina Mikhailova became victims of militant shells. In total, the Syrian campaign claimed the lives of 34 Russians.