By Vestnik Kavkaza
The head of Ingushetia Yunus-Bek Yevkurov gave a bust of the First Hero of the Russian Federation, Sulambek Oskanov, to the Museum of the Great Patriotic War on Poklonnaya Gora in Moscow for everlasting storage. Oskanov steered his broken aircraft away from a village in the Lipetsk Region in 1992 at the expense of his life. Major General didn’t save his life by using a parachute, even though the state commission proved that he had such an opportunity. Oskanov prevented the aircraft’s crash on the village.
Vladimir Zabarovsky, the head of the Museum of the Great Patriotic War, stated that “we, the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War, are proud of receiving a bust of the wonderful son of the Ingush people, the hero of modern Russia. We have a project of perpetuating names of first heroes of the Soviet Union. The Hall of Fame contains names of the Soviet Union Heroes who gained their awards during the Great Patriotic War. Sulambek Oskanov is the first hero of modern Russia, but unfortunately, he was awarded post-mortem. Thus, we begin a new stage of perpetuating the memory of the best sons of our motherland, modern Russia. From all points of view – both noble and historic – it is a significant event.”
The head of Ingshetia Yunus-Bek Yevkurov told Vestnik Kavkaza: “We perpetuated the memory of another hero of Russia, Sulambek Oskanov, ahead of the Patriotic Heroes Day. He was from Ingushetia. He was a patriot of his country; he served his country devotedly and died as a hero. By giving the bust to the Museum, we confirmed the deed of the great man once again and gave a powerful impetus to patriotic behavior of the growing generation.”
According to Yevkurov, there is no person in Ingushetia who doesn’t know the name of Sulambek Oskanov; everybody is proud of him: “There are many our young people in the hall, we invited them purposely because they should learn about Sulambek Oskanov’s path. Nobody specially prepared him for the deed. He had no rich parents; his family was poor, and he reached everything by his own. As the result, when a moment came, he turned everything which his parents, his land, his ancestors put in him into the act of bravery.”
