It was my personal opinion a few weeks ago that something is up in the air because of the Syrian conflict. The Russian fighter jet pilot Roman Filippov was shot down over Syria and died in a fight against the enemies. All Russian people learned the story of his last stand with great interest and sorrow. The loss of one Russian war plane is nothing, but politically an impressive, heroic death of the young Russian airman is of great significance and far-reaching consequences.
Roman Filippov died in battle like the ancient Romans did
Major Roman Filippov bailed out successfully from the burning plane to be surrounded by an overwhelming force of al-Qaeda-linked militants.
According to the Russian Ministry of Defence, he engaged in a gun battle with the militants. But when they came close, he blew himself up with the hand grenade. President vladimir putin has posthumously awarded Filippov the nation’s highest medal, the Hero of Russia.
He was only 33 years-old. He left a wife and his four-year-old daughter behind. Before he blew himself up with the grenade, he shouted: "This is for our guys!”, as he pulled the pin. He probably meant all the soldiers who fell in Syria. Putin’s commandos linked up with Turkish intelligence service to recapture his body.
Was the Russian combat Air Force man left to the wolves?
The Su-25 Frogfoot has an impressive self-defence suite, which includes various measures, such as flare dispensers capable of launching up to around 100 flares to misdirect the surface-to-air missiles.
Despite this, we can see here it is a defenceless warplane:
What I'm asking is: why did Major's Filippov's or his wingman's infrared search and track (IRST) system not detect the approaching rocket and why the self-defence suite was not activated?
Following the removing of the Filippov's body, the Russian Aerospace Forces carried out a massive strike on the area where the militants downed the warplane.
The pro-Assad information sources in Syria and Lebanon are expressing hope that the tragedy would provoke strong reactions from the Kremlin, contributing to the increase of both ground and air aspects of the Russian military involvement in the Idlib operation.
Has Putin neglected his duties as the Commander in Chief?
There was a lot of discussion in Moscow around the information that the MANPADS (Man Portable Air Defense Systems) used to bring down the jet was brought into Syria from a neighbouring country several days earlier.
In the Russian capital, it can be heard, the countries from whose territories weapons arrived to be used against Russian servicemen must understand that this wouldn't go on unpunished etc., etc.
On the other hand, the use of such weapons should by no means be surprising to the Russians. Besides Washington's ill-thought-out desperation to rid Syria of Bashar al Assad, we should also consider that several thousand MANPADS exist outside of state control, held by around 50 rebel/terrorist groups around the world.
Last December Vladimir Putin made a triumphant visit to Russian Syria airbase, claiming total victory in the war against terror in this Arab country. Only two weeks later two Russian servicemen were killed during an airbase mortar shelling because the base was fully unprotected to such a threat.
There is perhaps another explanation: the Russian imitation of the so-called false flag operations
For example; the explosion on board the battleship Maine, the sinking of the British ocean liner RMS Lusitania, and the most interesting among similar events: the surprise Japanese attack at the Hawaiian naval base Pearl Harbor.
Also, Putin and his generals simply had to know in advance of the possibility of the above-mentioned attacks. They have let them happen or indirectly encouraged them in order to force the Russian people into a full-scale Proxy war in the Middle East. It's of course only my personal opinion, but I think that the downing of the Israeli F-16 over the skies of the Syrian town of Quneitra could only be the first step in such an escalation.
Being at the same time also a false flag operation, perhaps also at least passively assisted by the Israeli government. Despite all of this the final judgement on it would have to wait till some subsequent actions will be completed.
