Vladimir Putin released newly graduated female military pilots after they had qualified from Serov Higher Military Aviation School amid the Ukraine invasion.
His ‘angels of death’ are trained in using transport plans and strategic nuclear bombers, reports say.
Defense minister Sergei Shoigu said the women military pilots were ‘gloriously’ continuing a tradition.
“You are a reference point and an example for those girls who will follow you,” he said.
The passing out parade in the Russian city of Krasnodar on October 30 saw Putin’s latest addition to his military forces.
They are the first women to become Russian military pilots since Joseph Stalin let females join the Russian Air Force during the Second World War.
As they marched in front of the Russian president, the women threw flower petals and coins into the air.
Female military pilots are not uncommon in Russian aerial combat. During WWII, 23 women were awarded the honor of ‘Hero of the USSR.’
This year, Shoigu picked Anna Scherbakova, a pilot from Perm, as the applicant for the award. She and 15 other women graduated among 400 newly-qualified military pilots.
In 2017 when they rebottled for their 5-year course Colonel Oleg Pchela said to the female applicants: “Girls are usually very romantic.
“They have good motivation that will allow them to learn how to fly our military airplanes and to perform the tasks of their commanders.
“It is a highly responsible job to become a military pilot. It is a hard occupation, it demands high moral values too.”
One critic said: “All these girls will soon get married and go to ‘serve’ on maternity leave.”
Another wrote: “This is an incredible waste of life for these women and their prospects of producing another generation. All for the sake of Putin’s war.”
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