Russian confirms death of 1st troop inside Syria
Russia confirmed Tuesday the death of its first military service member in Syria, saying a young soldier killed himself at a base in the country's west, apparently over personal issues with a girlfriend.
The young man, one of the hundreds of troops the Russian government routinely refers to as "contractors" or "volunteers," was identified by state media as 19-year-old Vadim Kostenko.
All Russian men are conscripted into military service for a set period of a year or two, but many chose to sign contracts with the Ministry of Defense after that service is up. While the precise payment of these "contractors" is murky, they still work for the Ministry and serve as military service members.
A large number of these contractors have been deployed to Russian bases inside Syria since Moscow began dramatically ramping up its role in the complicated civil war in late September.
The Defense Ministry said Kostenko was serving as a ground technician at a Russian airbase called Hmeymim, near the Syrian city of Latakia on the Mediterranean coast, where the majority of Russia's forces in the country are based.
"According to preliminary investigation, including the analysis of SMS in his phone, the death of the contractor was caused by the problems in his personal relationships with a girlfriend," the Ministry of Defense said, according to Russia's state-controlled news agencies.
Kostenko's family, however, told the Reuters news agency at their home in southern Russia, that they would "never believe this version" of the story, insisting he was a happy, healthy young man in a good relationship.
CBS News' Tsvetlana Berdnikova notes that suicide attributed to broken relationships is not uncommon among young Russian troops.
Russia has stationed a significant contingent of personnel and military hardware inside Syria, and continues to carry out frequent airstrikes against opposition forces on the ground in support of President Bashar Assad, a close Russian ally.
President Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials insist, however, that no troops will fight alongside their Syrian counterparts on the battlefield.
The Obama administration and its allies have expressed exasperation that the Russian airstrikes have targeted not just ISIS and al Qaeda militants, but also the so-called moderate opposition -- including rebels backed by Washington.
The U.S. military lost its first service member in the fight against ISIS earlier this month.
Army Master Sgt. Joshua L. Wheeler, 39, of Roland, Oklahoma, was killed during a brazen raid on an ISIS-run prison in Iraq last week, officials said.
He was the first American to die in combat since the U.S. launched Operation Inherent Resolve, targeting ISIS in Iraq and Syria, last year.