Media: Russian soldier killed in Syria
It has been reported that for the second time in one week, a member of the Russian military has been killed in Syria.
Artem Gorbunov, 24, was killed during an attack on Palmyra, according to a post by his wife Sofia on her page on the social media site Vkontakte.
“My husband was killed on March 2nd in Syria. They were caught in an ambush…he was the first one killed,” she wrote in one of her posts, which was accompanied by a photo of her husband in military uniform.
It is known that the young man previously served in the military in Nizhny Novgorod. His funeral was held there, as reported by the newspaper Kommersant. The paper was able to obtain a personal account from the widow of the dead man, who said that he “died in the line of duty.”
Afterward, the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed Gorbunov’s death.
“Contract officer Artem Gorbunov was assigned to protect a group of military advisors in the Syrian Arab Republic. Artem Gorbunov was killed on March 2nd in the area of Palmyra while fending off a group of attackers from the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, and Syrian troops were nearby,” reported the military department.
It was earlier reported that during a mission by Russian troops in Syria, 23-year-old contract solder Ivan Slyshkin was killed by a sniper. He was buried on March 2nd in Ozyorsk in the Chelyabinsk region.
“The reason he [Slyshkin] was fighting in Syria was because he could earn some serious money, including money to pay for his wedding,” reported the publication Znak.
In early 2010 Slyshkin was a conscripted soldier in Chechnya, where he won three military awards: for service in the North Caucasus, for bravery, and for valor.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, a total of 27 servicemen have been killed during the Syrian campaign.