PRISTINA, Kosovo. July 24 (Interfax-AVN) - Military honors were rendered to a deceased Russian peacekeeper on the Slatina airfield in Kosovo on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Russian military contingent headquarters told Interfax-Military News Agency.
"The ceremony was attended by KFOR Commander Lieutenant General Marcel Valentin, commander of the Russian military contingent within KFOR Major General Nikolai Kriventsov, servicemen of the contingent and officials of a multinational brigade within KFOR," the spokesman said.
The plane carrying the body of Captain Alexander Kolodyazhny left for the Chkalovsky airfield outside Moscow at 8:20 a.m. local time, the spokesman said.
According to him, Kolodyazhny is likely to be awarded the Order of Courage post-mortem.
The peacekeeper died near the locality of Kolotovic at 9:20 p.m. Moscow time (1720 GMT) on Sunday. Kolodyazhny and the Russian platoon he was in command of were riding on an APC with a mission to patrol the area.
Before entering a road section badly damaged by floods, Kolodyazhny ordered the personnel to leave the vehicle and rode forward together with the driver. The APC overturned and killed the captain. The driver was not harmed.