The Kremlin periodically honors the best soldiers who distinguished themselves during the counter-terrorism operation in the North Caucasus.

For their courage and heroism in the elimination of illegal armed groups in Chechnya, Colonel Gevork Isakhanian, Major Hasan Nadzhafov, Captain Sergey Petrov, Senior Lieutenant Alexander Postoyalko, Police Ensign Dibirgadjie Magomedov, and Private Alexey Korablev were awarded the title of Hero of Russia.

One of the awardees is a test pilot, Lieutenant-General of aviation, head of the GLITZ named after him. Chkalova Yuri Tregubenkov. As a rule, representatives of this profession receive such high awards for outstanding achievements in the field of operation and testing of new aviation equipment. Today, to these two possible factors for which pilots can be marked, the combat work of aviators in Chechnya has been added. It should be added that from August 1999 to the present, combat aircraft took to the air more than 11 thousand times. During the active phase of the counter-terrorism operation in the North Caucasus, Su-24 and Su-25 aircraft made more than 60 sorties per day, but now they make between 5 and 20 sorties.

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