Yevgeny Rodionov

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Yevgeny Aleksandrovich Rodionov (Russian: Родионов Евгений Александрович) (May 23, 1977 - May 23, 1996), Russian soldier killed in Chechen captivity.

Yevgeny Rodionov was born in a village Satino-Russkoye, near Podolsk, Moscow region. He was conscripted into the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in 1995. Private Rodionov was sent to Chechnya and on February 13, 1996 he was captured by the Chechen rebels and held captive for more than three months.

On his 19th birthday Rodionov was beheaded on the outskirts of the Chechen village Bamut after he refused to convert to Islam and join the rebels in their fight against Russia, according to his mother.

Yevgeny Rodinov was posthumously awarded Order of Courage; there is also a growing movement within the Russian Orthodox Church to canonize him as a Christian saint and martyr for faith.

[edit] References

• "Boy soldier who died for faith made 'saint'", The Daily Telegraph, January 24, 2004
• "A Drive to Turn a Soldier Into a Saint", The Moscow Times, October 19, 2004
• "From Village Boy to Soldier, Martyr and, Many Say, Saint", The New York Times, November 21, 2003
• "The First Saint of the Chechen War", RIAN, October 5, 2004
• "Russian Soldier Goes Through Chechen Captivity Hell", Pravda Online, January 8, 2003