Russia to award pilot killed in Syria highest honor

MOSCOW, Feb. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Russian pilot shot Saturday in a mission in Syria will be awarded with the country's highest honorary title, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement Monday.

Maj. Roman Filippov's Su-25 fighter jet was shot down by the Nusra Front militants when it overflew a de-escalation zone in the province of Idlib in northwestern Syria by a shoulder-held surface-to-air missile (SAM), said the statement.

The pilot had managed to jettison, but blew himself up with a grenade after being surrounded by militants and seriously wounded, it said.

The ministry said it will also provide all the necessary support to Filipov's family.

The title of the Hero of Russia, accompanied by a Gold Star Medal, is awarded to persons for "service to the Russian state and nation, usually connected with a heroic feat", according to a 1992 law, establishing the award.

On Saturday, the ministry said in another statement that its air force carried a massive strike against an area in Idlib controlled by the group, in retaliation to the downing of the jet, killing at least 30 operatives.

In the wake of the incident, the Defense Ministry ordered its pilots in Syria to fly at an altitude of no lower than 5 km, to avoid being hit by shoulder-held SAMs also known as man-portable air defense systems (MANPADS), Russia's Izvestia daily newspaper said Monday, quoting unnamed ministry sources.

In a separate development, the Kremlin expressed Monday its concerns over the possession of MANPADS by Syrian militants.

"This represents a huge danger to all states," the Interfax news agency quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying. Enditem