A Russian soldier dies in Syria

What we know about the death of 19-year-old Vadim Kostenko

Earlier this week, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the death of a Russian serviceman in Syria. Vadim Kostenko, a 19-year-old contract soldier from Krasnodar, is said to have killed himself because of problems with his girlfriend, who tells another story. Kostenko's parents have also told journalists that they don't believe their son committed suicide. Meduza recaps what we know about Russia's first official casualty in Syria.

A Russian contract soldier named Vadim Kostenko has died in Syria. The first to report Kostenko's death on October 27 was the independent group Conflict Intelligence Team, which is known for publishing open-source research documenting the Russian military's involvement in eastern Ukraine. According to the group's information, which it says it obtained on social media from the soldier's relatives and friends, Kostenko died on October 24.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has confirmed that the soldier killed himself "after duty, during his free time." A few hours after Conflict Intelligence Team reported Kostenko's death, state officials announced that he'd committed suicide after quarreling with his girlfriend. She says this is a lie. The military enlistment office initially told Kostenko's relatives that he hanged himself, but his unit later said only that he'd been found dead, without specifying any details.

Kostenko's family does not believe that he killed himself. According to Kostenko's mother, he spoke to her the day he died and sounded "cheerful and happy, and he laughed." A man claiming to be Kostenko's uncle told journalists that the soldier was discovered with his head bashed in and his jaw broken. Kostenko's 14-year-old sister, meanwhile, says there were no visible injuries on his body, except for markings on his neck apparently left by a rope. Kostenko's parents are demanding another medical examination.

Nineteen-year-old Vadim Kostenko was an aircraft-maintenance technician. He lived in a small town outside Krasnodar, relatively near the Sea of Azov. Kostenko served in military unit number 75387, in the 960th attack wing (the Sukhoi Su-25 jets in Syria today are stationed in this group). He was deployed on September 14 to the airbase in Latakia, the launching pad for Russian airstrikes throughout Syria. His parents learned of his death on October 25, and he was buried back in Russia on October 28.

There were previous reports of a Russian soldier dying in Syria. On October 23, The Wall Street Journal wrote that a Russian serviceman had died in Syria. On October 20, Reuters reported that three Russian citizens died in combat. That same day, Ukraine's intelligence service claimed that the bodies of 26 Russian soldiers had arrived in Sevastopol. The Russian authorities have not confirmed any of these reports.