Russian Pilot Surfaces 3 Decades After Being Shot Down in Afghanistan

During Soviet invasion of Afghanistan 30 years ago quite a number of planes along with their pilots were shot down. Valery Vostrorin who was presumed dead as one of those pilots has been found alive.

“He is still alive. It’s very astonishing. Now he needs help,” the head of the Russian paratroopers’ union, Valery Vostrotin, told the state-run RIA Novosti news agency.

He said the return of the pilot, whom he declined to name for reasons of confidentiality, would require “not only financial but also administrative, civil society and diplomatic efforts.”

The missing pilot was shot down in 1987 and was likely to be over 60 years old now, Vyacheslav Kalinin, deputy head of veteran’s organisation Battle Brotherhood, told the news agency.

Kalinin said the pilot now wants to return home to Russia.

During the course of the war, which spanned from 1979 to 1989, 125 Soviet planes were shot down in Afghanistan, RIA Novosti reported.

When Soviet troops pulled out of the country in 1989, some 300 soldiers were listed as missing.

Around 30 have since been found and most returned to their home countries, AFP news agency reports.