Allegiance Russia Name Sergei Solnechnikov Commands held signal battalion | Unit 54th command brigade Years of service 1997–2012 Rank Major | |
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Born 19 August 1980
Potsdam, GDR ( 1980-08-19 ) Awards Hero of the Russian Federation Died March 28, 2012, Belogorsky District, Russia | ||
Sergei Alexandrovich Solnechnikov (Russian: Серге́й Александрович Солнечников, 19 August 1980 – 28 March 2012) was a Russian military officer, who at the cost of his own life saved his subordinates covering a grenade. He was honored as a Hero of the Russian Federation, posthumously.
During training exercises on March 28, 2012 at a Far Eastern military base near the town of Belogorsk, major Solnechnikov pushed a soldier away from an unsuccessfully thrown grenade and threw himself over it after it bounced back into the trench they were in with dozens of soldiers standing nearby. Solnechnikov received serious injuries and was rushed into hospital but died almost 2 hours later.
Solnechnikov's feat received vast attention and sympathy in the media and across the Runet. He was buried with military honors on 2 April in his home town of Volzhsky. The next day he was awarded Russia's highest honor, the Hero of the Russian Federation.