2015 Russian Sukhoi Su-24 shootdown military of its jet's flight plan. The Russian pilot and weapon systems officer both ejected from the aircraft. The weapon systems officer was rescued; the pilot was shot and killed by Syrian rebel ground fire while descending by parachute. A Russian naval infantryman from the search and rescue team launched to retrieve the two airmen was also killed when a rescue helicopter was targeted by the rebels. The shooting down of the Sukhoi Su-24M was the first destruction of a Russian or Soviet Air Forces warplane by a NATO member state since the attack on the Sui-ho Dam (during the
Sukhoi Log mine Sukhoi Log mine The Sukhoi Log is one of the largest gold reserves in Russia and in the world The reserve is located in Irkutsk Oblast and has estimated reserves of 64 million oz of gold, but has a low grade. During the 1990s a proposal was made to mine Sukhoi Log by the semi-private Russian company Lenzoloto with the British Virgin Islands company Star Technology Systems (previously known as Green Applied Systems Limited). Funds toward the venture were raised from the Australian Stock Exchange company Star Mining (previously known as Central Mining Corporation, now Argonaut Resources). Various legal, bureaucratic