Recent U.S-led coalition airstrikes targeting forces supportive of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad killed a number of Russians fighting on behalf of the Syrian leader, according to associates of the slain fighters and independent researchers.
Maxim Buga, a Cossack community leader in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, told Monday that local Vladimir Loginov was among “dozens” of Russian fighters killed by U.S.-led coalition forces, which clashed with pro-Syrian government forces on February 7 near the eastern Syrian town of Khusham, Deir Ezzor province.
Alexander Averin, spokesperson for the far-left party The Other Russia, told the outlet that one of its members, Kirill Ananiev, had also been killed in the incident, which the U.S.-led coalition and pro-Syrian government forces have accused one another of provoking, as a new front threatened to open in the war-torn country.
Citing researchers on Twitter, Conflict Intelligence Team identified additional Russian casualties, including Alexey Ladygin from the city of Ryazan and Stanislav Matveev and Igor Kosoturov from the town of Asbest. The group said both Metveev and Kosoturov may have fought alongside pro-Russia separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine prior to joining the fight against the Islamic State militant group (ISIS) and other insurgents challenging Assad’s rule in Syria.