in 1992 became the first recipient of the title for outstanding service at the
Mir space station became the first posthumous recipient of the title in 1992 , awarded in 2005 "for courage and heroism in the performance of military duties in the North Caucasus". expedition member Yevgeny Chernyaev The majority of the early recipients of the title fell into two categories: participants in the
Chechnya conflicts or
cosmonauts. On some occasions, the person who was awarded the title was killed while in the course of duty, such as Major Denis Vetchinov, who was killed early in the
2008 South Ossetia War. This includes those killed in battle as well as assassinated government officials. An example of such a recipient was
Akhmad Kadyrov, the former governor of Chechnya. The pro-Moscow leader was killed in a bomb attack during the 2004
Victory Day parade in the Chechen capital of
Grozny. Several days after Akhmad was killed, President
Vladimir Putin awarded him the title. Some time after the incident, Putin awarded Kadyrov's son,
Ramzan, the same title for his work in Chechnya. All Russian cosmonauts are awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation following their voyage into space; some may already have earned it, for example for long service as a test pilot. Cosmonauts are also awarded the title
Pilot-Cosmonaut of the Russian Federation. Some recipients of the title, such as
Sergei Krikalev, had also received the Soviet hero title, along with the
Order of Lenin. Most of the cosmonaut double heroes were awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union and Hero of Russia titles "for successful realization of flight and the courage and heroism shown." Outside those two groups, athletes and other civilian and military officials have also received the title. Notable examples include: •
Submarine captain
Gennady Lyachin, of the
Kursk, which sank after an
explosion in 2000. Due to his heroism during the explosion and his attempts at preserving the lives of the crew, Lyachin was posthumously awarded the title, and the members of his crew were awarded the
Order of Courage. • Athlete
Larisa Lazutina was presented with the title for various medals won at the
1998 Winter Olympics in
Nagano, Japan. •
Alexander Karelin was awarded for his recognition as the greatest
wrestler of all time (from
antiquity to the present day). He was a
Greco-Roman wrestler in the
Olympics, and in his career he won 887 bouts and lost only 2 times. His losses are controversial because commentators believe they were caused by trivial rule changes, not a bona fide athletic defeat. • Weapons designer
Mikhail T. Kalashnikov, designer of the
AK-47 assault rifle and
PK machine gun. He received the honour on his 90th birthday, 10 November 2009. On 16 August 2009, the
Russian Air Force's
aerobatics demonstration team,
Russian Knights' commander,
Guard Colonel
Igor Tkachenko was killed when his
Sukhoi Su-27 collided in mid-air with another Sukhoi Su-27 whilst practicing for the 2009
MAKS Airshow. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously on 22 August 2009. The medal has been awarded posthumously approximately 340 times, primarily to people involved in the
first and
second wars in
Chechnya. In 2010 a posthumous award was made by President
Dmitry Medvedev to Evgeny Chernyshov, the chief of the Moscow fire department on 24 March 2010. Chernyshov died on 20 March 2010 saving others' lives. On 28 March 2012, during a training exercise at a Far Eastern military base near the town of
Belogorsk, Major
Sergei Solnechnikov pushed a soldier away from an unsuccessfully thrown grenade and
covered the grenade with his own body after it bounced back into the trench they were in with dozens of soldiers standing nearby. He was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation posthumously the following day on 29 March. In February 2014, Colonel who was commander of a detachment of Russian
Spetsnaz took part in the
annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. On 4 April 2014 in a ("closed") decree of the President of the Russian Federation, he was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation for "courage and heroism displayed in the performance of military duty." On 24 November 2015, a
Turkish Air Force F-16 shot down a
Sukhoi Su-24 which Turkey claimed had violated its airspace. Lieutenant Colonel
Oleg Peshkov and Major ejected successfully from the aircraft but they were exposed to ground fire and Peshkov died as a result. Murakhtin was rescued safely later. On 25 November, President Vladimir Putin awarded the Hero of Russia posthumously to Peshkov and Murakhtin was awarded with the
Order of Courage. On 17 March 2016, Senior Lieutenant
Alexander Prokhorenko was the pilot of a
Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft shot down during
Palmyra offensive of the
Syrian Civil War. During his last moments, he was allegedly surrounded on all sides by
ISIS fighters and he decided to order an airstrike at his own position, killing himself and all of the approaching fighters. Before he died, he called the commander: "They are outside, conduct the airstrike now please hurry, this is the end, tell my family I love them and I died fighting for my motherland. Unable command, I am surrounded, they are outside, I don't want them to take me and parade me, conduct the airstrike, they will make a mockery of me and this uniform. I want to die with dignity and take all these bastards with me. Please my last wish, conduct the airstrike, they will kill me either way. They [are] outside, this is the end commander, thank you, tell my family and my country I love them. Tell them I was brave and I fought until I could no longer. Please take care of my family, avenge my death, good bye commander, tell my family I love them!". On 11 April 2016, President
Vladimir Putin declared Prokhorenko a Hero of the Russian Federation, the highest Russian honor. On 10 July 2016, Police Lieutenant
Magomed Nurbagandov from
Dagestan was captured by Islamic militants. With the whole incident videotaped by the militants, they demanded that Nurbagandov and his colleagues resign from the police force, but he defied them and said to the camera "Keep on working, brothers!" before being shot dead. On 22 September 2016, President Putin praised the officer as a model for others and awarded the Hero of Russia posthumously to Nurbagandov which was handed to his parents. On 10 May 2017, Russian President Vladimir Putin personally awarded medals to four officers of the
Special Operations Forces for showing extraordinary courage combating terrorists in Syria. They were part of a 16-man special forces detachment unit which managed to successfully repulse attacks conducted by over 300 jihadists without any losses. The commander of the unit, Lieutenant Colonel Danilo was awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Russian Federation. On 3 February 2018, Major
Roman Filipov was the pilot of a
Sukhoi Su-25 ground attack aircraft that was shot down by Syrian militants belonging to the
al-Nusra Front. Filipov successfully ejected but landed in a rebel-controlled area and fought a gun battle against militants. He shouted "This is for our guys!" and set off a
hand grenade as 10 militants approached him. On 6 February 2018, President Vladimir Putin signed an executive order awarding Major Roman Filipov the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. On 15 August 2019,
Ural Airlines Flight 178 crash landed in a cornfield shortly after takeoff. With the successful emergency landing, the airline praised the professionalism of the pilots. The pilot in command and the first officer were awarded the honorary title of Hero of the Russian Federation; the rest of the crew were decorated with the
Order of Courage. In December 2020, according to the
Russian Defense Ministry,
1st Captain of the
Russian Navy's
Northern Fleet was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation "for the performance of special tasks associated with the risk to life during one of the long voyages." In May 2021, by a "closed" decree of the President of the Russian Federation, Police Lieutenant Colonel of the
Ministry of Internal Affairs of Chechnya was awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation for courage and heroism shown in the line of duty. On 5 June 2022,
Roman Kutuzov was killed in the village of
Mykolaivka, during the
battle for Sievierodonetsk–Lysychansk near
Lysychansk, Ukraine, while commanding the
1st Army Corps of the
Donetsk People's Republic. Reports of his death originated on Russian
milblogger Telegram channels and were later confirmed by Russian state media. He was buried in the
Federal Military Memorial Cemetery on 7 June 2022. Kutuzov's promotion to
lieutenant general was announced posthumously, and he was awarded the Hero of the Russian Federation award alongside his other medals. ==See also==