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Colonel Oleg Pechevisty, 49, a Russian special forces commander, was killed after his command post in Syria was attacked. Photo/Twitter @gazali_a1
DAMASCUS – A special forces commander Russia died after his command post in Syria was attacked by a “sabotage group” last week.
Colonel Oleg Pechevisty (49), who heads the unit department special force The Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School—a military educational institution belonging to the Russian Ministry of Defense in the Ryazan region—was killed just months after he was assigned to the Middle Eastern country on a special assignment.
His death was confirmed by the administration of the Podporozhsky district, Leningrad region, where he was born.
“Pechevisty was killed while performing his commando duties in Syria on the night of May 25-26,” the administration said, as quoted by Newsweek, Tuesday (30/5/2023).
The local Podporozhskaya Pravda channel reported that he was killed by a direct hit by a “sabotage group” on his command post. It was not immediately clear which “sabotage group” was meant.
Russia has maintained a sizeable military presence in Syria since 2015, four years after the country’s civil war broke out, but in recent months it has reduced its forces in the region, shifting its experienced troops to fight against Ukraine.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has relied on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s troops, and other supporting forces, to fight the rebels and maintain his grip on power.
Colonel Pechevisty graduated in 2006 from the Combined Arms Academy of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, a military academy in Moscow.
Pechevisty also served in Russia’s Chechen Republic and the breakaway South Ossetia region from Georgia, before being assigned to Syria.
