A native of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Senior Lieutenant of the Airborne Forces Yuri Schneider, who participated in the recording of the New Year's greetings from Russian President Vladimir Putin, died in Ukraine.
The death of a military man on Twitter was reported by the user Necro Mancer, who collects data on the dead. Also, information about Schneider's death was confirmed to Novaya Gazeta Europe by two of his acquaintances.
After recording New Year's greetings with Putin, in an interview with NTV, Schneider said that he would remember this meeting for the rest of his life: “Undoubtedly, the support of the Supreme Commander is very gratifying for me and raises morale for combat missions. I arrived in my unit with a fighting spirit and I am ready to go only forward and only to victory.
On December 31, Putin personally presented Schneider with the Order of Courage for "repulsing a powerful attack" by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. On January 12, the senior lieutenant returned to the front line.
An acquaintance of Schneider, Grigory, told Novaya Gazeta Europe that he died on February 7 in the Kremennaya area in the Luhansk region. According to him, Yuri was a platoon commander and died from shrapnel wounds.
Putin's New Year's greetings differed from the traditional ones. This time he was not alone in the frame – there were people in military uniform behind him. The woman behind the president's right shoulder often appeared in "public" photographs with Putin, each time in a new role – either sitting among the fishermen, or standing behind Putin at the Christmas service in the Novgorod monastery as an ordinary parishioner.
During the broadcast of Putin's congratulations on New Year's Eve, there was a massive shelling of Ukraine. The country announced a large-scale air alert. A number of explosions thundered in Kyiv, shells also hit residential buildings.