‘Congratulations. Thank you so much for your son,’ says Sochi’s mayor, decorating the parents of a Russian soldier killed in Ukraine
Sochi Mayor Andrei Proshunin presented the Order of Courage to the parents of Aik Roganyan, a local resident killed in Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
In a video posted to his Telegram channel, Proshunin addresses Roganyan’s mother and father in an official building, flags arrayed behind him:
Nothing, of course, can ease the pain of loss. But even so, he earned this. His memory will always live on in the city — not just his, but that of all the heroes who go off to defend our homeland.
He then handed the order to Roganyan’s mother and told the couple they could always count on the administration for support.
Shaking hands with Roganyan’s father, Proshunin said, “Thank you. Sincerely. Congratulations. Thank you so much for your son.”
According to data compiled by the independent Russian news outlet Mediazona, which maintains a named list of those killed in the war, Roganyan was born in 2001 and died on February 20, 2024, at age 22. An obituary cited by journalists says he was a cadet at the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School, from which he graduated early “due to a shortage of officers” and was sent to the Western Military District as a commander.
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