Kanamat Huseevich
Botashev
1959-2022
Kanamat Huseeviсh Botashev was a pilot of the private military company «Wagner», a retired major general, and posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation. He was born on May 20, 1959, in the village of Nizhnyaya Tiberda, the Karachayevsky District, in the Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Region (now the Karachay-Cherkess Republic). After finishing high school in 1976, he attempted to enter Black Sea Higher Naval School named after P.S. Nakhimov in Sevastopol, but after an unsuccessful attempt, he entered Astrakhan Sea Navigation School for one year. In 1977, he joined the Soviet Armed Forces as a cadet at the Yeisk Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots named after V.M. Komarov in the Krasnodar Territory (Krai), graduating in 1981. He served for two years as a pilot in the 168th Guards Aviation Regiment of Bomber Aircraft in the Transcaucasian Military District (Didi-Shiraki Airfield, Georgian SSR). From 1983 to 1988, he was a senior pilot in the 1st Guards Aviation Regiment of Bomber Aircraft of the Southern Group of Forces (Kunmadarosh Airfield, Hungary). From 1988 to 1998, he served in the 67th Bomber Aviation Regiment of the 76th Air Army in the Leningrad Military District (Smuravyevo Airfield, Gdov District, Pskov Region). He held various positions, including senior pilot, flight commander, and deputy squadron commander. After graduating (via correspondence) from Air Force Academy named after Yuri Gagarin, he commanded a squadron and later served as deputy commander of the regiment. In November 1998, he was appointed as commander of the 722nd Bomber Aviation Regiment (Smuravyevo Airfield) of the 6th Army of the Air Force and Air Defence, and in 2000, he became the deputy commander of the 149th Mixed Aviation Division of the same army. In 2002, he was transferred to the Siberian Military District, where from 2002 to 2007, he commanded the 21st Mixed Aviation Division stationed in the Republic of Buryatia. In 2004, he participated in combat operations in Tajikistan. During his service in Transbaikalia, he was recognized as the best pilot of the Siberian Military District in 2007. At the same year, he was sent to study at the Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Federation in Moscow. After graduating in 2009, he served as commander of the 7000th Guards Aviation Borisov Pomoranskaya Twice Red Banner Order of Suvorov Base of First Rank in Voronezh (2009–2013). Over his career in the Air Force, he mastered aircraft including the L-29, Su-7B, Su-24, Su-24M, Su-24MR, Su-17M3, and Su-25, amassing a total flight time of 2,717 hours. When Russia began its special military operation in February 2022 to protect the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), the 62-year-old pilot decided to return to military aviation and joined the private military company “Wagner,” which was conducting operations against the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Donbass region. From April 18 to May 22, 2022, K.H. Botashev completed 35 combat sorties in the skies of LPR, striking more than 160 ground targets and destroying 20 pieces of armored vehicles and up to 400 enemy soldiers. On the morning of May 22, 2022, while flying a Su-25 attack aircraft on a mission to strike targets near the city of Popasna (LPR), Botashev received a distress signal from a group of Russian troops encircled by superior Ukrainian forces near the Pilipchatino fortified area. Aware of the heavy air defence in that region, the pilot completed his assigned targets, volunteered to assist his troops, and ensure their escape from encirclement. He successfully inflicted fire damage on a group of nationalists, allowing his troops to break free from the fire encirclement. However, after completing the task, during a low-level turn, his Su-25 was shot down by a surface-to-air missile, and he did not have time to eject. By decree of the President of the Russian Federation on June 1, 2022, he was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of the Russian Federation for his courage and heroism in carrying out combat missions. The Hero’s «Gold Star» was presented to his family on June 2, 2022, during a farewell ceremony in Karachaevsk. He was buried the same day in the cemetery of Nizhnyaya Tiberda, the Karachayevsky District. Botashev was posthumously named an honorary citizen of the city of Karachaevsk. A monument was erected in his honour in Karachaevsk, and two busts were installed in Cherkessk and at the «Sivoritsy» airfield in the Gatchina District of the Leningrad Region. The Sivoritsy Aero Club was also named after him. His name was given to a square in Karachaevsk, a street, and a sports palace in the village of Uchkeken in the Malokarachayevsky District of the Karachay-Cherkess Republic. Memorial plaques were installed at the school in Nizhnyaya Tiberda and on the house he lived in Karachaevsk. In the village of Voskresenskoye, the Luga District, the Leningrad Region, a memorial plaque was unveiled in honour of Kanamat Huseeviсh Botashev.
Address: Moscow, Victory Park
