Russian boxing champion killed in Syria

Famous in past Russian boxer Vyacheslav Lapshin was killed in Syria, fighting in the ranks of terrorists of the Islamic state. The athlete was killed on March 2016, but his passing became known only now. Olga the sister of the deceased told that Lapshin accepted Islam 15 years ago, and the family took it calmly.

"We continued to live as usual, nothing has changed in our life, we were very close, I cannot understand what prompted him to leave for Syria," Olga said.

According to her, Lapshin with his wife and three children went to Turkey for vacation in June 2015 and stayed in the country, and later moved to Syria.

"My mother still thinks he's in Turkey, I could not tell her that my brother is gone," the boxer's sister says.

"He really wanted to go back, I felt he was tired and disappointed, but they could not get out of there, I suspect that he consciously went for death to end this horror," she noted.

Vyacheslav was born on June 21, 1981. He fought in the professional ranks in 2005-2009 and had nine fights: he got five wins and suffered three defeats, another meeting ended in a draw.

The most successful in the amateur career for Lapshin was 2006, when he became the champion of Russia.