Anatoly Lebed Anatoly Vyacheslavovich Lebed ( ) ( 10 May 1963 - 27 April 2012 ) , was a Hero of the Russian Federation , Guards Lieutenant Colonel in Special Airborne Forces , an officer of the 45th Independent Special Purpose ( Spetsnaz ) Order of Kutuzov Order of Alexander Nevsky Guards Regiment . Biography . Soviet Military Service . Lebed was born in the city of Valga , Estonia . He joined the Soviet Armed Forces in 1981 starting his military service in Soviet Airborne Troops ( ) . He first trained in the 44th Airborne Division in Gaižiūnai in the Lithuanian SSR and later served in the 57th Independent Air Assault Brigade in Taldykorgan in the Kazakh SSR . Opting for a career change , he entered the Lomonosov Military Aviation Technical School graduating as a flight engineer in 1986 . He served on combat operations in Afghanistan in 1986 - 87 as an aircrew member in a helicopter regiment . After his return from Afghanistan , he served successively in the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany , in the Trans - Baikal and Siberian military districts in the 329th Transport & Combat Helicopter Regiment and in the 337th Independent Helicopter Regiment . His service had earned him the Order " For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces " 3rd class and three Orders of the Red Star . Russian Federation Military Service . He retired to the reserves in 1994 and worked for the Afghan Veterans benevolent fund . In 1999 , he went to the North Caucasus as a volunteer in the combined militias after purchasing his own equipment and flying to Makhachkala in Dagestan . When military ops moved into Chechnya in October 1999 , he went to Moscow and re enlisted in the service signing a contract with the Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation and immediately returned to Chechnya to participate in counter - terrorism operations . From 1999 to 2007 , he made over 10 trips to Chechnya and participated in special operations in the areas of the cities of Gudermes and Argun , as well as in the suburbs of Grozny and the Vedeno region . In 2003 , while engaged in combat in the Ulus - Kert mountains , he stepped on a mine and lost a foot . He refused to resign from the Armed Forces , his superior physical fitness allowed him to remain in the service , to carry on parachuting ( over 840 jumps ) and to still do martial arts with the prosthesis . On January 9 , 2005 his patrol was ambushed , refusing to let his injured men be captured by the enemy , he single - handedly engaged and overcame an enemy superior in numbers . In a subsequent battle on January 24 , 2005 , he was injured by multiple fragment wounds in the back while shielding his men from the blast of a rocket propelled grenade . Even wounded , he personally neutralised the enemy rocket and machine gun post then continued leading the patrol leading to the capture and destruction of a terrorist base . He was awarded the Title of Hero of the Russian Federation on April 6 , 2005 by Presidential Decree citing " for courage and heroism in the performance of military duties in the North Caucasus " . He then held the rank of captain . His actions during the 2008 South Ossetia war earned him the honour of becoming only the second Knight of the Order of St . George 4th class . During the October 1 , 2008 award ceremony , Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said of Lebed : " Among us there is a Special Forces officer , a Hero of the Russian Federation , Anatoly Vyacheslavovich Lebed . He always led from the front during combat operations , always displaying the epitome of personal courage itself " . On April 27 , 2012 , in Moscow , Colonel Lebed was involved in a motorcycle accident which took his life .