MOSCOW, July 19. /TASS/. Russian Mi-25 helicopter crew that were killed in Syria on July 8 have been nominated for top state awards, the Russian Defense Ministry reported Tuesday.

Russian training military pilots Ryafagat Khabibulin and Yevgeny Dolgin were making a test flight of a Syrian Mi-25 helicopter with ammunition in Syria's Homs Province when they received a request from the Syrian grouping’s command to deliver air strikes at advancing Islamic State terrorists. After having run out of ammunition, the helicopter was hit by militants' gunfire from the ground and crashed.