Russian pilot shot down over Syria blew himself up with a grenade to avoid capture.

Wreckage of the SU-25 shot down over Syria. DW/AFP/Getty.

 As a quick update to the story about the Russian pilot shot down over Syria, we now know his name and how he died. DW has an article up about the fate of the pilot. Major Roman Filipov (some sources spell it Filippov) was the name of the airman and he was shot down in Idlib province, which is a rebel stronghold. According to the Russians Filipov engaged the militants with his pistol but he was outnumbered. After being surrounded he blew himself up with a grenade, supposedly killing or injuring a few of them. Filipov has been awarded Russia's highest honor: Hero of the Russian Federation. 

Video has been posted on the internet of the final moments of Major Filipov. The video has not been verified but seems likely to be authentic. I will post it below. In the video you can hear small arms fire and then according to news sources someone yells out in Russian "This is for my boys!" before an explosion. The video isn't very good in terms of quality but it does show a tremendous act of heroism. 

I've already covered most of my reactions to this situation in my previous blog post. It's pretty clear to me though that Major Filipov is a hero, regardless of his nationality. He made the right call here and instead of being executed by the terrorist al-Nusra group, he got to go out on his own terms and may have taken a few of the enemy out with him. If you have to go, I can think of a lot of worse ways to do so. Instead of being a propaganda coup for al-Nusra, he is now a hero to his nation and a great example to the rest of the world. 

I have to say that the Russians might be on to something by giving their pilots grenades. American pilots are armed, but only with pistols and submachine guns. This incident shows that might be the best idea. Major Filipov had a pistol as well but he wasn't able to use it to escape. Giving pilots grenades as an option of last resort might be something America's military should look into as well. As long as we are fighting people that will torture our pilots to death, we should consider protecting our pilots.