MOSCOW: A Soviet soldier from Uzbekistan who went missing in 1980 while serving in the Red Army during the war in Afghanistan has turned up living in the west of the country.
Bakhretdin Khakimov has been living in Herat province since suffering an injury in September 1980, according to the Veterans Support organisation which found him.
He is now known as Sheikh Abdullah and works as a healer, said Alexander Lavrentyev of the Warriors-Internationalists Affairs Committee, quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency. He said Khakimov was married but his wife died. He has no documents and barely speaks Russian.
According to RIA Novosti, there are 264 Soviet soldiers considered to be missing in Afghanistan.
Agencies
