Career
During training exercises on March, 28 at a Far Eastern military base near the town of Belogorsk, major Solnechnikov pushed a soldier away from an unsuccessfully thrown grenade and threw himself over it after it bounced back into the trench they were in with dozens of soldiers standing nearby. Sonechnikov received serious injuries and was rushed into hospital but died almost 2 hours later. Sonlnechnikov"s feat received vast attention and sympathy in the media and across the Runet.
He was buried with military honors on 2 April in his home town of Volzhsky.
The next day he was awarded Russia"s highest honor, the Hero of Russia.