Successful Genetic Identification of Remains of World War II Red Army Soldier

Abstract

This work is devoted to personal identification of a pilot who perished during World War II in 1941. As a result of search works near the village of Sambek, participants of the search association Mius-Front found remains of a downed plane. We carried out complex genetic analysis of the mitochondrial and autosomal DNA isolated from the remains found among the plane fragments. For personal identification of the remains, recent relatives of crew members of the plane were found, who donated the biological material for comparative research. Owing to the analysis of DNA of the native niece of one of the pilots and the remains of the unknown person, it was possible to establish that these remains belong to Junior Sergeant Dzyuba Vladimir Romanovich, who was considered to be missing in action since October 17, 1941.