Relatives honour Siberian-born war hero who 'loved Russia and died for Russia'

The lieutenant colonel's death caused shock and revulsion in Russia and many other countries after he was shot down on a mission to destroy jihadist terrorists. Aged 45, he was born in the village of Kosikha in Altai region, southern Siberia. His younger brother Pavel, a lieutenant-colonel in the Interior Ministry troops in Novosibirsk, paid tribute to him.

'Oleg was dreaming about the sky since childhood, when he collected model planes,' he said. 

He attended DOSAAF - the Volunteer Society for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation, and Fleet, a sports organisation with close links to the armed forces. He learned to parachute and became interested in flying gliders, growing up in Ust-Kamenogorsk, in Soviet Kazakhstan.

'He was a role model for me in everything,' he said. 'I became a serviceman after him. After doing eight years at school he entered the Suvorov, then - Kharkov - aviation school. He travelled all over the country. He fought in Chechnya, so Syria wasn't his first fighting experience.'

The brother was flying from Novosibirsk to his dead brother's home in Lipetsk. He last spoke to Oleg on 14 November. 

'He phoned me and told me he was sent there for two months,' he said. 

He had two children, a daughter, 16, and a son, eight. 'His family still can't believe that he's dead and hope that the information that he was killed is wrong,' said one account. 

Relative Nina Krutoberezhnikova said: 'He went through the Chechen war. He loved Russia and died for it. May he rest in peace...' Pavel said his brother's remains were still in Syria and he did not know when the funeral would be held. 

Lt-Col Peshkov was  posthumously awarded the Hero of Russia honour by President Vladimir Putin for 'heroism, courage and bravery shown during the fulfillment of his military duties' when his Su-24 was shot down by a Turkish warplane on Tuesday.