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Downed Russian Pilot Utilizes Hand Grenade to Prevent Capture in Syria
Published 2 years ago
This is the only known footage of the attempted capture of downed Russian fighter pilot Roman Filipov in 2018 near the city of Maarrat al-Nu'man, Syria. It was recorded by Tahrir al-Sham insurgents attempting to take him prisoner.
While brief, this footage is the only known video of the attempted capture of Russian fighter pilot Roman Filipov. It was recorded in 2018 after his Su-25 was brought down by Tahrir al-Sham fighters utilizing what is to believed to have been a shoulder fired anti-air weapon system of unknown origin. The video above was recorded by Tahrir al-Sham fighters who flocked to the site of Filipov's parachute in an attempt to capture the fighter pilot for propaganda and intelligence purposes.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the factions in Syria, it's important to remember that Tahrir al-Sham is a branch of Jabhat al-Nusra. If that still means nothing to you I'll put it in even simpler terms, Jabhat al-Nusra was an al-Qaeda affiliate operating in Syria. It is likely that Filipov would have been executed on camera after an intense interrogation had he been captured by the guerilla fighters who recorded this video. Instead, the pilot made a last stand with his handgun and then used a hand grenade to prevent himself from being captured by enemy forces.
According to reports from the period that this video was released, the Russian pilot killed two of the Sham fighters with his pistol before pulling the grenade from his vest and using it to prevent being captured by the fighters who shot him down. Before the grenade's detonation, Filipov allegedly screamed something along the lines of "This is for the guys." He was posthumously awarded the Hero of Russia medal the following February.
