Victory or death

In Syria, the Russian combat helicopter Mi-24 failed, Interfax reports with reference to the Ministry of Defense. The crash occurred on December 31.

"When performing a flight to the Hama airfield due to the technical malfunction, the Russian Mi-24 helicopter crashed. When a rigid landing of 15 km from the destination airfield, both pilots died, the Ministry of Defense said." There were no fire exposure to the Mi-24. "

The helicopter flight engineer was injured, the military departments said. He was promptly evacuated by the search and rescue group at the Khmeimim airfield, where he was provided with medical care.

As established by Conflict Intelligence Team, which tracks Russian losses in Syria, Major Artem Kulish and a crew member named Matveev died as a result of the helicopter crash. According to CIT, before the fall, a helicopter accompanying the column touched the wires.

On December 11, Khmeimim was visited by Vladimir Putin . There he announced that the victory over the Islamists "as a whole" has been achieved and now a significant part of the Russian troops would be withdrawn from Syria.

The Russian military operation in Syria began in October 2015. To date, 43 Russian military has officially reported during the Syrian campaign. However, Russians who died in Syria can be much more , since some of them participated in the Syrian conflict as employees of private military companies. The Ministry of Defense does not report such losses.