Major General Alexander Vasilyevich Tolopilo

Stories

Russia's missile downed a passenger jet. a year later, no one's been punished.

As of May 2026: Promoted to deputy commander of 11th Guards Army after crash

On December 25, 2024, Russian anti-aircraft fire shredded an Azerbaijan Airlines passenger jet carrying 67 people. The pilots—hydraulics destroyed, controls failing—flew the crippled Embraer 190 across the Caspian Sea for an emergency landing.

Updated May 16