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Soviet pilot downed in Afghanistan in 1987 may return to Russia within a year — source

The pilot has been preliminarily identified as Alexander Mironov, according to a source

Soviet aircraft in the sky over Kabul, 1987 Valery Zufarov, Boris Kavashkin/TASS

Soviet aircraft in the sky over Kabul, 1987

© Valery Zufarov, Boris Kavashkin/TASS

MOSCOW, June 1. /TASS/. A former Soviet pilot, who went missing in Afghanistan in 1987 and was tracked down fairly recently, may return to Russia within the next twelve months, a source at the Boyevoye Bratstvo [Combat Brotherhood] veterans charity international fund told TASS on Friday.

"His return home will require intensive work on the part of public organizations and diplomats and will take about twelve months," the interlocutor said.

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Another source in the same organization said the fund had received the data on the pilot from US counterparts who engaged in a search for the missing military.

Initial information suggests the pilot's name is Alexander Mironov.

The news that the man who had been listed as missing more than 30 years ago had been found came on Thursday from Valery Vostrotin, the chairman of the Defense Ministry’s commission for prisoners of war, interned persons and the servicemen missing in action, who co-chairs the Russian-US commission for POWs and missing soldiers.

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