Commander of the Airborne Forces of Russia Serdyukov Broke His Back

Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov was one of the organizers of the occupation of the Crimea.

The commander of the Airborne Troops of Russia, Colonel-General Andrei Serdyukov, was seriously injured in a car accident in the Murmansk region. Lenta.ru was informed by a source familiar with the situation and confirmed another source in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

The car crash occurred at 14.45 on September 15, but it became known only on September 19. Chevrolet Lanos smashed into the minivan of the General. The minivan bowled over.

The video of the car crash is uploaded on YouTube.

The 55-year-old Colonel-General is in critical condition with a serious craniocerebral trauma and fracture of the back; he was taken to the intensive care unit of the hospital of the Northern Navy. His deputy, Major-General Vladimir Kochetkov has numerous fractures.

In addition, an assistant to the commander-in-chief and his adjutant were injured as well. The driver of the minivan has minor injuries.

Chevrolet driver, a 34-year-old resident of Murmansk, died of injuries in an ambulance. His wife was hospitalized. Their sons of 16 and 17 years old received minor injuries, the sources informed.

The Russian Ministry of Defense admitted that the commander of the Airborne Troops Andrei Serdyukov was in the hospital after the car accident. «Interfax informs.

"Doctors says that the health state of the commander is satisfactory", the Defense Ministry's Department of Information reports.

Serdyukov was appointed Commander of the Russian Airborne Forces on October 4, 2016.

The Izvestia newspaper called Serdyukov who had served in 2014 as the first deputy commander of the Southern Military District "the organizer of the brilliant operation" in the Crimea.

Russia annexed the Crimea after an illegal referendum on March 16, 2014 which was preceded by the occupation of the peninsula by Russian troops.