Alexey Nikolaevich
Osokin
1989-2022
Alexey Nikolaevich Osokin was the commander of the 2nd Air Assault Battalion of the 31st Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade of the Airborne Troops, holding the rank of Guards Major. He was born on September 2, 1989, in the town of Karcag (Hungary) into a military family. He attended school in the village of Lebyazhe, located in the Kamyshin district of the Volgograd region, where his father served until 2004. In that year, the family moved to the town of Orekhovo-Zuyevo in the Moscow region, and Alexey entered Ulyanovsk Suvorov Military School, where his elder brother had previously studied. In 2007, he joined the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as a cadet at Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School named after Army General V.F. Margelov. While studying in the 2nd company, he actively participated in kettlebell lifting and rifle shooting. He took part in the Victory Day Parade in Red Square, Moscow, twice. Osokin graduated with honours in 2012 and was assigned to the 31st Separate Guards Air Assault Brigade, stationed in Ulyanovsk, where he served for two years as the commander of a parachute platoon. He participated in the 2014 operation for the annexation of the Crimea to Russia. In 2014, he transferred to the 51st Guards Airborne Red Banner Regiment named after Dmitry Donskoy of the 106th Guards Airborne Tula Red Banner Division (Tula), taking on the role of deputy commander of a parachute company. At that year, he was appointed as commander of the company of the 137th Guards Parachute Regiment of the Red Banner Kuban Cossack Regiment (Ryazan), remaining within the same division, and subsequently became the deputy commander of the parachute battalion of the 137th regiment. He completed two deployments to Syria in 2019 and 2020, where Russia has been conducting military operations against international terrorist groups since 2015. In September 2021, he returned to Ulyanovsk and was appointed as commander of the air assault battalion of the 31st Separate Air Assault Brigade. He participated in the special military operation aimed at protecting the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics. Osokin was among the first airborne soldiers who, on February 24, 2022, parachuted from helicopters into the airport of the village of Hostomel in the Bucha district (Kiev region), capturing it and holding the position for two days while surrounded by a numerically superior elite brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces until reinforcements arrived. On March 3, 2022, Guards Major Osokin was carrying out a combat mission to liberate Hostomel. During the battle, three of his comrades were ambushed under crossfire from Ukrainian troops and, sustaining injuries, became unable to continue fighting alongside the main body of their company. Without hesitation, the battalion commander, along with the crew of the BMP-4M infantry fighting vehicle, initiated the evacuation of his wounded comrades under relentless enemy fire. He continued to command his unit until he lost consciousness. He was evacuated to the medical post at Hostomel airfield, but his injuries proved fatal. By a decree of the President of the Russian Federation (classified) dated June 11, 2022, for his courage and heroism displayed while fulfilling his military duty, Guards Major Alexey Nikolaevich Osokin was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. He was buried at the federal military memorial “Pantheon of Defenders of the Fatherland” in the Mytishchi urban district (Moscow region). The “Golden Star” medal was presented to his family on July 19, 2022, at the Main Personnel Department of the Ministry of Defence of Russia by State Secretary – Deputy Minister of Defence Army General N.A. Pankov. Guards Major Osokin was awarded the Order of Courage (posthumously on March 17, 2022) and various medals, including the Suvorov Medal (November 27, 2020). A bust of Alexey Osokin was erected in Ryazan on the Alley of Heroes of Ryazan Airborne School on November 15, 2023. On August 2, 2022, a memorial plaque was installed on house № 18 in Severnaya Street in Orekhovo-Zuyevo, where the hero lived; on the same day, a memorial stela was erected on the Alley of Memory in that city. The name of A.N. Osokin was assigned to the Children’s Creativity Centre “Rodnik” in Orekhovo-Zuyevo in 2023. His name was also immortalized in the Volgograd Hall of Military and Labour Glory.
Address: Moscow, Victory Park
