Valery Asapov

Lieutenant General Valery Grigorievich Asapov
Asapov in 2013
Native name	Валерий Григорьевич Асапов
Nickname(s)	Primakov (according to Ukraine)
Born	(1966-01-01)1 January 1966 Kalinino, Malmyzh Raion, Kirov Oblast, RSFSR, USSR
Died	23 September 2017(2017-09-23) (aged 51)[1] Deir ez-Zor, Syria
Buried	Federal Military Memorial Cemetery, Moscow Oblast
Allegiance	Soviet Union  Russian Federation
Service/branch	Russian Ground Forces Russian Airborne Forces
Years of service	1987–2017
Rank	Lieutenant general
Commands held	68th Army Corps 5th Red Banner Army 5th Corps of the Syrian Army
Battles/wars	1991–1992 South Ossetia War First Chechen War 2001 Kodori crisis Second Chechen War Russo-Ukrainian War (claimed by Ukraine) Russian military intervention in Syria Battle of Deir ez-Zor †
Awards	Hero of the Russian Federation (posthumously) Order "For Merit to the Fatherland" IV class Order of Courage Order of Zhukov (posthumously) Order of Military Merit
Relations	Vyacheslav Asapov (brother) Olga Petrovna (wife)[2]

Valery Grigorievich Asapov (Russian: Валерий Григорьевич Асапов; 1 January 1966 – 23 September 2017) was a Russian military leader who last served as the Lieutenant General of Russian Ground Forces. According to the Russian Defence Ministry,^[3] he was killed on 23 September 2017 by mortar fire from ISIL terrorists near the city of Deir ez-Zor during the Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War making him the most senior Russian officer killed in action to date in the course of the Syrian Civil War. Asapov's position in Syria was described by the Ministry of Defence as the chief of the group of Russian military advisers in Syria.^[4][3]