The names of Russian soldiers who died in Syria have become known. List of Russians killed since the beginning of the VKS campaign in Syria

This week it became known about three Russians killed in Syria. This is 23-year-old Ivan Slyshkin, a native Chelyabinsk region, Togliatti resident Vasily Yurlin and Artem Gorbunov. The first two, according to the activist group Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT), which studies the activities of the Russian military in Syria, were mercenaries of a private military company, the so-called " PMC Wagner".

Gorbunov was a soldier from the 96th separate brigade intelligence agency based in Nizhny Novgorod. Only his death was officially confirmed by the Russian Ministry of Defense: “Artem Gorbunov died on March 2 in the Palmyra area while repelling an attempt to break through by a group of ISIS militants into the positions of Syrian troops, where Russian military advisers were located,” the department’s press service said in a statement.

Four at once

On February 16, 2017, according to the official statement of the Ministry of Defense, four Russian soldiers were killed and two more were wounded. The Tiger armored vehicle they were driving was blown up by a radio-controlled landmine, the Kommersant newspaper reports, citing sources close to the Defense Ministry.

Since September 2015, when Russia began its military operation in Syria, 34 people have been killed in this Middle Eastern country, according to DW estimates. This is official data. Unofficial - higher. DW has compiled a list of confirmed and unconfirmed casualties among Russians in Syria.

Losses of 2016

In 2016, according to official data, losses amounted to 25 people. On December 7, the Ministry of Defense announced the death of Colonel Ruslan Galitsky, who commanded the 5th Guards Tank Brigade in Ulan-Ude in Russia and was a military adviser in Syria. He was wounded during the shelling of one of the Aleppo neighborhoods by Syrian militants and later died from his wounds in hospital.

On the same days, two military nurses died - Nadezhda Durachenko and Galina Mikhailova. On December 5, the emergency department of a mobile hospital in Aleppo was hit by mines.

On August 12, the death of Asker Bizhoev from Kabardino-Balkaria became known from the social network Instagram. Bizhoev died back in May 2016 while performing a combat mission. A few months later, the head of the republic, Yuri Kokov, announced this.

On August 1, 2016, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that a Russian Mi-8 helicopter had been shot down in Idlib province. “There were three crew members and two officers on board,” the department said. The names of the dead were named by Ekho Moskvy and Gazeta.ru, citing a source in the Ministry of Defense: they are 33-year-old crew commander Roman Pavlov, navigator Oleg Shelamov and flight engineer Alexey Shorokhov. The names of the two dead officers are unknown.

On July 22, 2016, 23-year-old contract soldier Nikita Shevchenko from Birobidzhan died. According to the Ministry of Defense, he was accompanying a humanitarian cargo. He was posthumously presented with a state award.

On July 8, 2016, the commander of the 55th separate army aviation regiment, Colonel Ryafagat Khabibullin, and instructor pilot Evgeny Dolgin died. Their helicopter was shot down during a combat mission.

On June 15, 2016, Marine Andrei Timoshenkov was killed in Homs province. According to the press service of the Ministry of Defense, Timoshenkov “prevented the breakthrough of a car filled with explosives to the place where humanitarian aid was distributed to the civilian population.” On June 7, 2016, junior sergeant Mikhail Shirokopoyas died in Moscow from wounds received during shelling of a Russian convoy in Syria.

On May 11, 2016, Anton Erygin, a native of Voronezh, died from severe wounds. On April 12, 2016, a Russian Mi-28N helicopter crashed near Homs, killing two crew members Andrei Okladnikov and Viktor Pankov from Syzran.

On March 17, 2016, Russian special forces officer Alexander Prokhorenko from the Orenburg region died near Palmyra. According to the Ministry of Defense, he was carrying out reconnaissance missions in the Palmyra area when he was surrounded.

On February 1, 2016, Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Cheremisin died. According to the Ministry of Defense, Cheremisin worked in Syria as a military adviser.

First victims

Special attention was linked to the death of pilot Oleg Peshkov, whose Su-24 was shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter with an air-to-air missile near the Syrian-Turkish border in the province of Latakia. This happened
November 24, 2015 and led to .

On the same day, a marine from Novocherkassk, Alexander Pozynich, died trying to save the crew of a Su-24 shot down by a Turkish fighter. During the rescue operation, his Mi-8 helicopter was shot down and made an emergency landing. Pozynich received a shrapnel wound to the neck and died.

On November 19, 2015, captain 27-year-old Fedor Zhuravlev from the Bryansk region died. At the funeral, Zhuravlev’s commander told his relatives that he had died during a special operation against militants in Kabardino-Balkaria. But later it was officially confirmed that Zhuravlev died in Syria, and he was posthumously awarded the Order of Kutuzov.

On October 24, 2015, contract soldier Vadim Kostenko died. Official version death of the Ministry of Defense - he committed suicide at the Khmeimim airbase due to a rift “in his personal relationship with a girl.” But both the parents and the girl don’t believe it.

Losses associated with Syria

These include 51-year-old serviceman Sergei Chupov from Balashikha near Moscow. Officially his death in Syria Russian authorities are not confirmed, the widow claims that he died on the border with Ukraine while helping one of his friends move. Chupov’s colleagues and activists from CIT insist on the “Syrian” version.

On December 8, 37-year-old Major Sanal Sanchirov from Kalmykia died near Palmyra. The sister claims that she saw the death certificate, which recorded the death of Sanchirov as a result of mortar shelling in Palmyra. There is no reliable information about the death of Vadim Tumakov from the Orenburg region. Local publications claim that he died in Syria. Officially, he was not an active serviceman: it is possible that Tumakov was a mercenary.

Probably mercenaries

There are only tentative estimates of losses among Russians who went to fight in Syria for hire. In March 2016, at the instigation of IS terrorists, a photograph of five allegedly dead Russian servicemen circulated on the Internet. But there is still no official data about them. The total losses among the mercenaries, according to various estimates, number in the dozens.

Context

Such activities abroad Russian President actually legalized at the end of 2016, amending the law “On Military Duty and military service"It is believed that the most important role in organizing the sending of mercenaries to Syria is played by the so-called "Private military company(PMC) Wagner". There is no official information about it. It is believed that it is led by Dmitry Utkin ("Wagner" is the call sign of reserve lieutenant colonel Utkin). He participated in one of the special receptions in the Kremlin for military personnel who distinguished themselves by special heroism. From this it can be concluded that his current activities, about which nothing is publicly known, are valued by the Russian authorities.

The last death of mercenaries in Syria on March 7 was probably recorded by CIT activists. We are talking about Vasily Yurlin from Togliatti. Friends of the deceased on the social network vk.com say that the funeral is scheduled for March 8. The news about Yurlin's death was posted by the city veterans organization. There are no official reports on this matter.

See also:

Observing the enemy

The enemy must be out there somewhere. Kurdish fighter Hazeba Nawzad looks through binoculars near the Iraqi city of Mosul, observing the front line separating Kurdish territory from the area captured by Islamic State (IS) militants.

Photo gallery: Women with weapons against ISIS

At the forefront of the resistance

The enemy has been detected - you can open fire. Khazeba Nauzad and her fighting friends take aim at IS militants. Air strikes alone cannot defeat the jihadists, so Yazidi and Kurdish women are helping to fight against ISIS on the ground.

Photo gallery: Women with weapons against ISIS

Clear visibility

Khazeba Nauzad puts her hair in a ponytail: in order to aim better, nothing should block her view. An attribute of Western fashion, the military style in Iraq and Syria is a reflection of the bitter reality.

Photo gallery: Women with weapons against ISIS

Faithful companion

Azema Dahir during a break between fights. The red teddy bear is her faithful companion and a reminder of peacetime, which suddenly ended with the arrival of ISIS in the summer of 2014. Then many Yazidi women had to say goodbye to everything that was dear to them. Thousands of them have been kidnapped and abused by IS militants.

Photo gallery: Women with weapons against ISIS

Looking for refuge

ISIS terrorists do not spare even the weakest. In the summer of 2014, hundreds of thousands of Yazidis, ruthlessly persecuted by jihadists, were forced to leave their homes. Two years ago, this photo of an elderly man became a symbol of the suffering of the Yazidis, a religious minority in Iraq who were victims of the Islamic State.

Photo gallery: Women with weapons against ISIS

Trauma for life

This 15-year-old Yazidi girl did not want to show her face. Jihadists kidnapped her in the summer of 2014 and forcibly married her to an IS militant. Two months later she managed to escape. She now lives with her family again and talks about the horrors of her experience.

Photo gallery: Women with weapons against ISIS

After the battle

For many months, jihadists occupied the city of Kobane in northern Syria, right on the border with Turkey. The Kurds desperately held their defense. With the help of the American Air Force, the IS militants were defeated. However, the terrorists left only ruins here.

Photo gallery: Women with weapons against ISIS

Friendship as a symbol of victory

IS terrorists destroy everyone who does not share their ideology. They are trying to pit people of different faiths and nationalities against each other. However, they do not always succeed. The friendship between Kurdish and Yazidi women was a symbolic victory over ISIS.

Photo gallery: Women with weapons against ISIS

Fight for freedom

It has not yet been possible to achieve a military victory over IS. Militants control large areas in Syria and Iraq. However, Kurdish and Yazidi women continue to fight, in part to prove that women are not slaves.

On April 11, the Ministry of Defense announced the death of two contract soldiers in Syria. Thus, from the moment military operation In Syria, according to confirmed data, 30 people were killed.

On April 11, 2017, the Ministry of Defense confirmed the death of two Russian military personnel. According to the department, they died as a result of a militant attack.

On March 6, 2017, the Ministry of Defense confirmed the death of Russian serviceman Artem Gorbunov. Earlier, Gorbunov’s wife, Sophia, said that on March 2 he died in Syria during the operation to capture Palmyra.

On February 20, 2017, the Ministry of Defense reported the death of four and the injury of two Russian soldiers. Their car was blown up.

On December 7, 2016, the Ministry of Defense announced the death of Colonel Ruslan Galitsky. During the shelling of one of the Aleppo neighborhoods by militants, he was wounded.

On December 5, 2016, two Russian military nurses, Nadezhda Durachenko and Galina Mikhailova, died as a result of a direct mine hit in the emergency room of a mobile hospital in Aleppo.

On August 1, 2016, a Russian Mi-8 helicopter was shot down in Idlib province. Five were killed - three crew members and two officers. The helicopter was returning after completing a humanitarian mission.

The wreckage of a downed Russian Mi-8 helicopter in Idlib province (Photo: Reuters/Pixstream)

In May 2016, serviceman Asker Bizhoev died while performing a combat mission. He was awarded the Order of Courage posthumously.

On July 22, 2016, contract soldier Nikita Shevchenko was killed while performing a combat mission in the Aleppo region. He was nominated for a state award posthumously.

On July 8, 2016, the commander of the 55th separate army aviation regiment, Colonel Ryafagat Khabibullin, and instructor pilot Evgeny Dolgin died when the helicopter they were flying was shot down from the ground.

On June 15, 2016, Andrei Timoshenkov died in Homs province. According to the press service of the Ministry of Defense, Timoshenkov “prevented the breakthrough of a car filled with explosives to the place where humanitarian aid was distributed to the civilian population.”

On June 7, 2016, junior sergeant Mikhail Shirokopoyas died in Moscow from wounds received during shelling of a Russian convoy in Syria.

On May 11, 2016, Anton Erygin died. He was seriously injured on May 9 while escorting vehicles from the Russian Center for Reconciliation of Warring Parties.

On April 12, 2016, a Russian Mi-28N helicopter crashed near Homs, killing two crew members Andrei Okladnikov and Viktor Pankov. The Ministry of Defense stated that the helicopter was not shot down, and the results of the investigation were not presented.

On March 17, 2016, Russian special forces officer Alexander Prokhorenko died near Palmyra. His death was announced by the Ministry of Defense on March 24. According to the department, the serviceman was performing reconnaissance missions in the Palmyra area when he was surrounded and caused fire on himself.

Farewell ceremony for Senior Lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko, Hero of Russia, who died in Syria in the village of Gorodki, Tyulgansky district (Photo: Sergey Medvedev/TASS)

On February 1, 2016, military adviser Lieutenant Colonel Ivan Cheremisin died. According to the Ministry of Defense, Cheremisin was in Syria as a military adviser.

On November 24, 2015, Marine Alexander Pozynich died during an operation to rescue the crew of a Su-24 shot down by a Turkish fighter. During the operation, one of the Mi-8 helicopters carrying troops was shot down and made an emergency landing. Pozynich received a shrapnel wound to the neck and died.

On November 24, 2015, Su-24 crew commander Oleg Peshkov died. The plane was shot down by a Turkish F-16 fighter with an air-to-air missile near the Syrian-Turkish border in the province of Latakia.

Memorial plaque in memory of the commander of the Su-24 bomber Oleg Peshkov, who died in Syria, installed on the monument to military glory near the village of Vozzhaevka (Photo: Sergey Lazovsky/TASS)

On November 19, 2015, captain Fyodor Zhuravlev died. At the funeral, Zhuravlev’s commander told his relatives that he had died during a special operation against militants in Kabardino-Balkaria.

During Putin’s meeting with military personnel returning from Syria on March 17, the soldier’s widow was presented with awards. Later, presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov confirmed to Reuters the fact of Zhuravlev’s death in Syria.

On October 24, 2015, contract soldier Vadim Kostenko died. The official version of death is that he committed suicide at the Khmeimim airbase due to a disagreement “in his personal relationship with his girlfriend.” This version was reported to the Ministry of Defense the day before the funeral.

Journalists again discovered a discrepancy between official losses Russia during the Aerospace Forces operation in Syria and the likely actual number of casualties. According to reports from the Russian Ministry of Defense, in 2017 the death toll was 10 people. In fact, at least 40 Russian citizens could have died in Syria, Reuters reports, citing stories from their relatives, friends, as well as data from local authorities. The Ministry of Defense categorically refuted .

The agency was able to confirm most of the identified deaths from more than one source. In nine cases, the death was reported in local media or in social networks, managed to be supported by data from another source.

In addition, Reuters has evidence that of the 40 killed during the operation in Syria, 21 were mercenaries. There are 17 military personnel. The agency was unable to find out the status of the rest.

According to Konashenkov, in the Reuters material “again, the sources include some rumors, data from social networks and fictitious conversations with allegedly “intimidated” anonymous “relatives and acquaintances.” In the publication itself, there is only a mention of military personnel of the Russian Armed Forces, but “instead, a myth about some dead “contract soldiers” from a “mysterious” organization,” the department representative added.

Konashenkov emphasized that the Russian Ministry of Defense knows the “customer” of the Reuters publication and those who “helped” prepare it. “Therefore, we explain especially for the “Russian” editorial office of Reuters. There were and are no supposedly “secret” burials of Russian military personnel who died in Syria. Attempts to pass off as them private individuals who have no relation to the Armed Forces, and especially to the operation in Syria is deceitful from beginning to end,” the ministry representative snapped.

The underestimation of Russian losses in Syria has been reported repeatedly

Previously, Reuters has repeatedly reported on discrepancies between the official victims of Russia’s operation in Syria and the actual ones. In April, the agency noted that since the end of January 2017, the Russian Federation had suffered four times more losses in the Syrian Arab Republic than officially reported. According to evidence collected by Reuters, since January 29 - that is, during the period of intense fighting to capture Palmyra - 21 Russians have died in Syria. At the same time, the Ministry of Defense officially confirmed in 2017 data on only five victims.

In March, the Conflict Intelligence Team, which conducts independent investigations into military conflicts, reported the deaths of nine Russians in Syria, which were not officially reported. According to the CIT, at least six of them were Wagner Group mercenaries.

In addition, according to Russian authorities, during the 15 months of the Russian Aerospace Forces’ operation in the Arab Republic (from September 2015 to December 2016), 23 servicemen were killed. At the same time, Reuters counted 36 dead, including mercenaries.

As the agency notes, the discrepancy official information with real losses can be partly explained by the fact that Russia does not openly admit that mercenaries of private military companies are present in Syria along with military personnel. Their presence in the SAR will be a violation of the legislative ban on the participation of civilians in hostilities as mercenaries (Article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Mercenarism”).

The Russian authorities quietly admit some losses several months later, notes Reuters. The families of the victims are given posthumous awards, and local authorities sometimes name the schools in which they studied after the military men who fell in Syria.

Last spring, Russian President Vladimir Putin, by decree, expanded the list of information classified as state secrets, classifying data on the losses of Defense Ministry personnel “in peacetime during special operations.”

Official losses of the Russian Federation in Syria for 2017:

1. Artem Gorbunov, a soldier of the 96th separate reconnaissance brigade, died on March 2 in the Palmyra area;
2. One of the four military advisers who died on February 16 in the Homs area, according to press reports - Vadim Magamurov, senior lieutenant;
3. One of the four military advisers killed on February 16 in the Homs area, according to press reports - Pavel Kozachenko, marine;
4. One of the four military advisers who died on February 16 in the Homs area, according to press reports, was contract soldier Prokopiy Solomonov;
5. One of the four military advisers killed on February 16 in the Homs area (the Ministry of Defense did not disclose the names of any of those killed);
6. One of two contract servicemen, died on April 11, 2017 (possibly Igor Zavidny);
7. One of two contract servicemen, died on April 11, 2017 (possibly Alexey Goncharenko);
8. Major Sergei Bordov, military adviser, died on April 20, 2017;
9. Lieutenant Colonel Alexey Buchelnikov, military adviser, died on May 2, 2017;
10. Captain Nikolai Afanasov, military adviser, died on July 11, 2017 in the province of Hama.

It became known about the death of two more Russian soldiers in Syria: Yuri Khabarov from the Yaroslavl region and Magomed Terbulatov from Chechnya died.

The investigation team reported the death of Khabarov Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) with reference to his friend, who wrote about Khabarov’s death on VKontakte on September 25. According to investigators, before being sent to Syria, the Russian fought on the side of the separatists in Donbass. "He stayed in Syria as a contract soldier Russian army or as a PMC mercenary - on this moment unknown. However, it should be noted that we have repeatedly met veterans of combat operations in eastern Ukraine in the ranks of Wagner PMCs,” CIT noted.

According to reports from the Russian Ministry of Defense, in 2017 the number of Russians killed in Syria was . In fact, there is evidence of deaths there from January to July 2017 at least 40 citizens of the Russian Federation. Journalists have evidence that among these dead Russians there were 21 mercenaries and 17 military personnel. The status of the other two victims could not be determined. Experts have long reported a serious discrepancy between official Russian losses during the Aerospace Forces operation in Syria and the actual number of casualties.

The funeral of Chechen Ministry of Internal Affairs officer Magomed Terbulatov was reported by the online publication Kavkaz.Realii. Based on the photo in Terbulatov’s Odnoklassniki profile, journalists concluded that he was an employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

According to the publication, Terbulatov’s body was brought home to the village of Predgornoye in the Nadterechny district on September 24, and he went to Syria as part of the Chechen military police in December 2016.

A fellow villager of the deceased said that Terbulatov got married a little over a year ago and has a young child.

On September 20, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced the encirclement of 30 military police in the Syrian province of Idlib. The department did not report any deaths.

The cause of the death of General Asapov in Syria was called a data leak to terrorists

Last week it became known about the death of five Russian military personnel in Syria, including Lieutenant General Valery Asapov, whom tore apart on the front line during a mortar attack on Deir ez-Zor. Data from a preliminary investigation into the death of Asapov conducted by the Syrian side confirm the version of information leakage to terrorists, RIA Novosti reports, citing a source in the security agencies of the Syrian Republic.

“The results of the preliminary investigation into the death of General Asapov in Deir ez-Zor indicate a leak of information about his whereabouts to the side that carried out the shelling,” he said.

As the Russian Ministry of Defense reported, the senior group of Russian military advisers, Lieutenant General Valery Asapov, was at the command post of the Syrian troops, assisting Syrian commanders in managing the operation to liberate the city of Deir ez-Zor. As a result of a sudden mortar attack from IS* militants, Asapov was mortally wounded by a mine explosion.

Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov blamed the United States for his death; the State Department responded that the United States was not involved in the incident and does not support terrorists.

According to media estimates, Asapov became the 38th Russian serviceman to die in Syria since the beginning of the operation of the Russian Aerospace Forces in this country. The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that in 2017 the death toll was 10 people. The department noted that the general was posthumously nominated for a high state award.

Official losses of the Russian Federation in Syria for 2017:

1. On February 16, senior lieutenant Vadim Magamurov died in the Homs area; according to press reports, one of the four military advisers who died that day;
2. On February 16, marine Pavel Kozachenko died in the Homs area - one of four military advisers who died that day;
3. On February 16, contract soldier Prokopiy Solomonov, one of four military advisers who died that day, died in the Homs area;
4. On February 16, one of the four military advisers, whose names were never officially disclosed by the Ministry of Defense, was killed in the Homs area;
5. On March 2, Artem Gorbunov, a serviceman of the 96th separate reconnaissance brigade, died in the Palmyra area;
6. On April 11, 2017, one of the two contract servicemen died - possibly Igor Zavidny;
7. On April 11, 2017, one of the two contract servicemen died - possibly Alexey Goncharenko;
8. On April 20, 2017, military adviser Major died

Journalists have again discovered a discrepancy between Russia's Aerospace Forces operation in Syria and the likely actual number of casualties. According to reports from the Russian Ministry of Defense, in 2017 the death toll was 10 people. In fact, at least 40 Russian citizens could have died in Syria, Reuters reports, citing stories from their relatives, friends, as well as data from local authorities. The Ministry of Defense categorically denies this data.

The agency was able to confirm most of the identified deaths from more than one source. In nine cases, death reports circulated in local media or social networks were supported by data from another source.

In addition, Reuters has evidence that of the 40 killed during the operation in Syria, 21 were mercenaries. There are 17 military personnel. The agency was unable to find out the status of the rest.

The underestimation of Russian losses in Syria has been reported repeatedly

As the agency notes, the discrepancy between official information and actual losses can be partly explained by the fact that Russia does not openly admit that mercenaries from private military companies are present in Syria along with military personnel. Their presence in the SAR will be a violation of the legislative ban on the participation of civilians in hostilities as mercenaries (Article 359 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation “Mercenarism”).

Official losses of the Russian Federation in Syria for 2017:

*"Islamic State" (IS, ISIS, Daesh) is a terrorist group banned in the Russian Federation.