Yevgeny Rodionov was a Russian soldier who died in 1996 during the First Chechen War. Serving as an RPG operator in the border troops, he was captured by Chechen rebels alongside three fellow soldiers while guarding a road. He is remembered as a saint due to reports that he was executed in captivity because he refused to discard his Orthodox cross necklace or convert to Islam. Although he has not been formally canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church, he has gained widespread popular veneration for his perceived martyrdom.