Mark Yevtyukhin

Mark Nikolayevich Yevtyukhin (, 1 May 1964 – 1 March 2000) was a Russian Lieutenant-Colonel and Commander of the Pskov-based 2nd Battalion (listing among others the 6th Company), 104th Guards Airborne Regiment, 76th Guards Airborne Division, who was killed in action during the Battle for Height 776.0

While still an infant his family moved to Chukotka because his father was transferred to the Far Eastern region. Because of the extreme weather conditions in Chukotka, the one-year-old Yevtyukhin was sent to live with his grandmother in Gagra. His father was later transferred to a more senior position in Tbilisi, and the family lived there for five years, after which the family made their last move to Severomorsk. He studied at School No. 7 in Severomorsk, and it was during this time that he met his first love, and his later wife, Lilya. Yevtyukhin told his parents that he desired to join the military, much to his mother's dismay, and he and his brother would often make the trip, even during the winter, to the local aerodrome for skydiving.

According to one of the survivors of the battle, in a report published by Obshchaya Gazeta, the Chechen insurgents contacted Yevtyukhin by radio and suggested that he let them pass and prevent fighting, but Yevtyukhin refused, upon which the Chechens stormed the hill. After two hours of fighting against, according to Russian sources, 1,800 Chechen fighters,

At his funeral, Yevtyukhin was eulogised as a hero for pushing his comrades who were still alive to flee, before directing fire of artillery upon his position.

The No. 7 School in Severomorsk, the school which Yevtyukhin attended as a child, is now named in his honour. Every year in Yoshkar-Ola, a youth judo tournament is held in his memory. On 1 May 2004, a memorial plaque was placed on the house in which the Hero once lived at 16 Gagarin Prospect.

Yevtyukhin is buried in Orletsovsky cemetery in Pskov.