Friends and Neighbors of Russian Soldier Who Died in Syria Speak Out

The Russian Ministry of Defense released a statement on October 27 confirming that a Russian Air Force contract soldier, 19-year-old Vadim Kostenko, died while at the Hmeimim Airbase in Lattakia, Syria. The teenager’s death was ruled a suicide by hanging, the statement said.

But in an interview with Reuters, Kostenko’s parents refuted the Defense Ministry’s account, saying their son sounded happy and cheerful when they spoke with him over the phone on October 24, the same day he died. “We were told he had hanged himself because of a girl. He would never have done it. I know my son really well,” Kostenko’s father Alexander told Reuters.

RFE/RL, the US government-owned media service, spoke to neighbors and friends of Kostenko in this video, released on October 28. Credit: Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty