The memorial sign to the Hero of Russia, Su-24M bomber pilot Oleg Peshkov, who died five years ago while carrying out combat missions in Syria, has been unveiled at the Russian Supreme Command base in Khmeimim.
The sign was installed in the aircraft parking lot opposite the hangar, where Peshkov's plane was standing.
"It is hard and honorable to play the role of a defender, because a lot of heart and soul must be invested to proudly say: I have fulfilled my duty to the country. Lieutenant Colonel Peshkov gave his life to the cause of serving the Fatherland," said Sergey Kuzovlev, commander of the Russian Armed Forces in Syria, at the opening ceremony.
This is not the first monument in the Khmeimim. The Russian base immortalized the memory of helicopter pilot Ryafagat Habibullin and the nurses killed in Aleppo. Streets in the military camp are named after the heroes who died in Syria. There is also Peshkov Street.
"We thought that we should immortalize the memory of Oleg Peshkov. We have a helicopter parking lot named after Habibullin, and this parking lot had no name. That's why we thought that the parking lot he left on his last flight should be named after the Hero of Russia, Lieutenant Colonel Oleg Peshkov, and a memorial sign should be opened," Andrey Paliy, the Deputy Commander of the Russian Armed Forces in the SAR, told reporters.
According to him, the pilots will now pay tribute to Peshkov before departing for the missions.
On November 24, 2015, Oleg Peshkov was shot down by a Turkish fighter in northern Syria. The crew managed to eject. Navigator Konstantin Murachtin survived. Peshkov, who was going down with a parachute, was shot in the air by the militants. Later, all the terrorists who took part in the shootings were killed and the dead pilot was posthumously awarded the title Hero of Russia.
GSV "Russia - Islamic World"
Photo: Creative Commons
Based on materials from TASS