When nonhumans angrily trampled their bodies under the cries of "Allahu Akbar", the souls of modern Ikars were already high in the sky. Much higher than MI-8, on which they cut through the clouds until recently. And they did not just fly over the mountains, semi-deserts and destroyed cities of suffering Syria, but delivered humanitarian aid to the civilian population … And at the last moment, they tried to take the flaming car away from settlements.
From the very settlements of the Idleb province, where, mainly, supporters of Islamists live. These supposedly civilians rejoiced at the death of the Russians. Particularly diligent ones were not even too lazy to come to the crash site of the helicopter and jump on its smoking wreckage. Most of the normal citizens who do not share the bloody ideas of terrorists have long left this province, which has become the arena of confrontation between various gangster groups. Now it is difficult to understand where ISIS is, where is Jabhat Al-Nusra (organizations banned in the Russian Federation), and where are the “moderate oppositionists”. And it’s hard to say which particular gang committed this atrocity.
While the Islamists mocked the dead, the supporters of the "independent Ukraine" did about the same on the Internet. There, behind the line of the Donbass front, any tragedy of Russia is perceived with unhealthy joy. And it would be fine among the gloating ones there were only narrow-minded users of social networks! But Ukrainian journalists also joined this wild howl. Whatever the position of the staff of the Russian media, whom the supporters of the Maidan call "Kremlin propagandists", none of the so-called "cotton-wool" journalists would ever call the corpses of killed enemies "carcasses" …
But let the virtual mockery of the fallen remain on the conscience of the authors. The main responsibility for the atrocity lies not even with those who shot down the helicopter and sneered at the dead guys in real life. And on those who handed over MANPADS into the hands of outright bandits. And who all these years has supported the militants in Syria and does not allow an end to the bloody war that claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Who is leading a fierce information war against Syria (as well as against Russia, which came to the Arab Republic at the invitation of its legitimate government).
And even the tragedy with the downed helicopter, these true perpetrators of deaths are trying to use for their dirty political manipulations.
No sooner had the blood of the murdered pilots and employees of the Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties soaked into the hot Syrian sand, than new anti-Russian statements follow from Washington.
First, Pentagon spokesman Rankin Galloway said that the United States did not have any information about the incident with the helicopter. And from the White House came hypocritical "regrets" that the soldiers were killed. Hypocritical - because Washington suddenly started talking that this tragedy "speaks of the need to resolve the situation in Syria by political means." In fact, both Damascus and Moscow have been talking about the need for a political path all the time. But Washington responded to these signals by either providing material support to the “opposition” militants, by direct threats of bombing Syria, or by increasing the supply of weapons to terrorists. As a result, the Islamist radicals have in their hands the means capable of shooting down both helicopters and airplanes.
But then, after routine regrets and false appeals for peace, an openly provocative accusation against Russia followed.
With reference to the "Syrian moderate opposition", the US authorities are trying to accuse Russia of … the use of chemical weapons. Allegedly, in retaliation for the downed helicopter, Russian aviation dropped two containers of toxic gas on the city of Seraqib (Idleb province).
US State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing: "If this turns out to be true, it is extremely serious."
Let us recall 2013, which almost became fatal for Syria. This year saw the main provocations related to chemical weapons. First, at the end of March, the "opposition" used toxic substances against civilians in the Khan al-Asal region of Aleppo province. For almost six months, the authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic wrote to all imaginable and inconceivable international institutions, demanding an investigation of the incident. Finally, in August 2013, it would seem, it was possible to achieve the arrival of international experts to Syria. But right there the United States and the "Syrian opposition" (then not yet divided into "moderate" and "radical") concocted a grand provocation. They accused the SAR leadership and army of using chemical weapons in Eastern Ghouta (Damascus province). Despite all the absurdity of the accusation - as if, to put it mildly, strange people are sitting in the Syrian leadership, who used chemical weapons exactly on the day of the experts' arrival - this accusation almost became a pretext for the outbreak of direct aggression against the SAR.
Now accusations of "use of chemical weapons" are being voiced again, allegedly by Russia. This may be followed by a new round of anti-Russian hysteria. This is necessary to discredit the anti-terrorist operation carried out by the Russian Federation at the request of Syria, as well as to stop the offensive of the Syrian troops in Aleppo. Washington is well aware that if it succeeds in freeing Aleppo from terrorists, it will be a huge victory for Syria (and Russia). This will be a turning point in the course of the entire Syrian war.
The press secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov, in response to these ridiculous accusations, said: "It is very difficult to react to such stuffing: it is always unclear what they are based on."
It is not yet known whether Washington is smart enough not to develop this topic, or whether the States will nevertheless try to build some kind of provocation on this flimsy foundation. One thing is clear - now Russia will have to withstand yet another portion of false "appeals for peace." There will also be those among the Russian "democratic public" who will talk about the need to end the counter-terrorist operation.
However, this would mean betraying those guys who died fighting terrorists. Including - and those five who flew in this helicopter, shot down on their return to the base "Khmeimim" from Aleppo, after they delivered medicines and food to those in need.
At the moment, the names of three of them are known. These are the crew commander - 33-year-old Roman Pavlov, 29-year-old navigator Oleg Shelamov and onboard technician, 41-year-old Alexei Shorokhov. The first two were graduates of the Syzran Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots. The names of the officers of the Center for the Reconciliation of Warring Parties are still unknown.
They died, fulfilling their international duty, and no mockery of their bodies will diminish their feat. These vile actions of the militants, on the contrary, belittle the "Syrian opposition" itself, under whatever flag and with whatever slogans it may act.
