MOSCOW, April 29. /TASS/. The body of senior lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko killed when carrying out a combat task in Syria has been delivered to Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday.
"Following special joint steps taken with the participation of representatives of the Syrian authorities and the Kurdish militia, the officer’s body has been delivered to Moscow," the ministry said.
"Returning the body of Hero of the Russian Federation senior lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko killed in the Syrian Arab Republic while carrying out a combat mission that was held by terrorists to his home country was a matter of honor for the Russian Defense Ministry," the report said.
Prokhorenko’s funeral will be held on May 6 in Russia’s Orenburg region (some 1,400 kilometers southeast of Moscow), the press service of the regional governor told TASS on Friday.
"The funeral will be held in the village of Gorodki of Tyulgansky district," the press service said.
Senior lieutenant Alexander Prokhorenko, 25, was tasked with guiding Russian warplanes to terrorist targets near the Tadmor populated locality in Homs province. He called an airstrike on himself when his position was surrounded by the militants.
Prokhorenko was born in Russia’s Orenburg region where he graduated from an Engineering School of Anti-Aircraft Missile Defense. He was later transferred to the Smolensk Academy of Anti-Aircraft Defense from which he graduated with honors.
The Russian president posthumously awarded the Hero of Russia title to Prokhorenko by decree on April 11.