More details about the death of Russian servicemen in the Syrian province of Homs have been revealed.
Photo: Twitter / Alfons__Schmidt
On Monday, the Department of Information and Mass Communications of the Russian Defense Ministry released information about deaths of four Russian soldiers in the east of the Syrian province of Homs. According to the official version, a vehicle with Russian servicemen, which was a part of a convoy of Syrian troops, moving from the T-4 airbase in Homs, was blown up by a land mine. The Kommersant newspaper obtained information about one of the victims and some details of the incident.
First of all, Russian servicemen, who had a status of military advisers in Syria, were killed not on February 20, but at least a few days before this, as their funerals have already taken place in their home country. Kommersant’s reporters had a chance to talk to relatives of deceased 31-year-old Vadim Magamurov from Yekaterinburg.
Lieutenant Magamurov served as a chief of the intelligence of an Artillery Battalion of the 120th Artillery Brigade, stationed in Kemerovo region. At the end of 2015, the Msta-B howitzers from the 5th Battery of the 120th Brigade were dispatched to Hamrat district of Homs. Vadim Magamurov was sent to Syria along with them. At the end of 2016, he visited Yekaterinburg, where he celebrated his awarding the Order ‘For Merit to the Fatherland’ of the 2nd Class. Earlier, he was also awarded with the medal ‘Participant in Military Operations in Syria’. In January 2017, Magamurov went to his second duty journey to Syria.
A version of relatives of the deceased about circumstances of his death is at variance with the version of the Russian Defense Ministry. “They told us only that they went on a mission and came under fire,” Ilshat Magamurov, a cousin of the killed serviceman said. The incident could take place on February 10 or 17, when terrorists started a massive shelling of the Al-Tiyas-Homs highway and managed temporarily to break through to it. Militants published online a video, showing a shelling from the D-30 howitzer, which also could hit the vehicle with the Russian servicemen. According to another version, the vehicle could be struck with an antitank guided missile, as the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group reported on February 10.
Video report by Amaq News showing pinpoint precision strikes with 122mm D-30 against SAA/Russians in the deserts of Homs. pic.twitter.com/9Z0NtH6fNr
— Alfons Schmidt (@Alfons__Schmidt) February 17, 2017
Kommersant also assumed that the Russian officers were carrying a “further plan of action, developed in the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces,” however, the route direction (from the front line to the rear) makes this version dubious.